Rebirth
by the-lionness
Summary: "Now stand, my Child of the Earth and my Reborn, and protect this: our home, and the future…" AU ***FINAL CHAPTER ADDED***
1. I

**The Rebirth**

A hundred years after the near downfall of Moon Kingdom, the last of the royal family is reborn in a young teenage girl. AU

disclaimer: As cool as it would be, I don't own _Sailor Moon_. I barely own my Macbook.

* * *

Glossary

Mare Serenitatis: "The Sea of Serenity;" where the Moon Kingdom is located during Silver Millennium.

_(Source: mindat; Sailor Moon Wikia)_

* * *

I

* * *

Princess Serenity knew in her heart that she was the only one left.

There was chaos and destruction all around her. Smoke from fires and burning embers rose and blocked the infinite, yet comforting darkness of the once peaceful, sparkling sky. Even Earth, the azurite-colored orb that peeked at the Moon Palace from over the horizon was hidden from her gaze. She could smell what she knew was death in the wind; she could hear the far-reaching echoes of screams from her fallen citizens. The Moon Kingdom, her home, was dead.

She looked up at the tumultuous sky once more and shivered, as if she felt the dark presence right above her and its hungry desire to smother her.

She listened to the strong voice in her head, a voice that was hers but much more mature and capable than how she felt. _Wipe your eyes_, that voice said, _and run. Run and hide._

She obeyed and ran through the remains of the castle, footsteps quick and careful. She knew the Moon Palace like the back of her hand, had always wandered around its splendor as a child. But now, the ornate chandeliers had fallen, and the crystals that caught the light had shattered; statues and busts and vases were broken; and pieces of the crumbling walls fell and made her start with fright. Her journey carried her into the grand ballroom, the epicenter of the palace's destruction from their enemy, and she edged around pieces of the fallen architecture, fistfuls of her dirty white dress in her hands. She was fearful of those unseen eyes she felt around her; her eyes fought against staring at the tumultuous sky through the hole in the ceiling once more. It had only been a few hours since the attack, but it felt like a million eternities. Throughout the journey, she kept her glance focused forward and high; she could not bear seeing the strewn, broken doll-like bodies across the marble floor—the noblemen, the handmaidens, the advisers and guardsmen…children. She did not want to see more of the lifeless gazes of the people she loved and had grown up with every day.

The silence, the fear of being watched reminded her of seeing her senshi as they had died protecting her. Mercury. Mars. Venus. Even Jupiter whom she had always felt was particularly invincible.

And _he_ had died protecting her. The only man she had ever loved, whose dried crimson-tinged blood was smeared on her hands and clothes, the blood he shed as he died in her arms… "Endymion." Tears fell from her eyes and she bit back a sob as she thought about his body left there without her.

Several times, she felt sticky liquid underfoot, and she would fight the chills running down her spine and urge to vomit.

There came a sound from far away: the palace doors, the tall ones that led to the bridge that connected the palace's island to the mainland were being forced open. And then she heard the shouts of men, and her name in their yells.

They knew she was here. And they knew she was alone.

She ran harder down a hallway she had ventured into but once when she was eight or nine, one that led to a pair of heavy doors crafted with sturdy hands and painted and trimmed with gold to match the adjacent palace walls and hide its means of entry. It was a secret door that had piqued her curiosity since the day she had first taken to noticing it was there and had constantly been reminded of her caretakers' orders not to get close_._ And it was her salvation. Her hands desperately pressed against where she believed the latches could be found. Knowing the room was always sealed tight and the thought of being cornered and caught with nowhere else to go made her panic, but the doors gave in to her frantic touch without a fight. It was as if they understood her plight, and now recognized it necessary to open themselves to her.

She stepped inside and whipped her head around to watch the doors shut on their own accord.

The princess was in The Holy Sanatorium of the Mare Serenitatis, the holy land of the Moon Kingdom, even now, unchanged and protected from the destruction of the rest of the palace.

_"This is an important room, the sacred ground of the Moon Kingdom blessed by our ancestors." Her mother had told her in a whisper._

Even now, Princess Serenity could remember her mother. Tall with silver-white hair and eyes, and ever graceful with long limbs and slender hands. Full of wisdom, strength, and love. Her mother was known to all as a calm, powerful woman, and yet the Queen of the Moon's own presence had seemed dwarfed in the enclosure that was slightly smaller than Serenity's own bedroom. It was filled with something the princess had not been able to articulate as a child. A type of power that held traces in the very air and imbued the golden wall moldings of roses, vines, and animals and paintings of golden-winged, ruddy-cheeked angels with skin and hair in every imaginable hue. It was a power that had caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end and made her feel even tinier than she was.

_"Can you feel it, Serenity?" Her mother's eyes twinkled. "This room protects great power."_

_"Great power?" She had repeated the words in hushed tones, as if the room itself could hear her questioning its majesty. _

_"Yes, my love. The power of the Silver Millennium Crystal." The monarch smiled, lifting her hand and pointing. "Look there, in the arms of my mother's image, Queen Selene… Can you see it?" _

_Princess Serenity had peered towards the back of the room, and saw that there was a statue depicting a young, beautiful woman about her mother's height with long, cascading hair. "She looks pretty like you, Mama." And indeed the young princess was reminded of times when her mother took her hair down from its buns, a hairstyle that she made sure her own white hair resembled. This image captured Queen Selene with her chin raised and eyes closed serenely. A dress of the finest gold silk hung off the figure, its fabric and hem embroidered with feathers and what the child had just learned were the phases of the Moon seen from the mysterious planet above the back of the palace wall's horizon, Earth. And resting on a small red cushion held up by her hands was what appeared to be the largest and strangest-shaped diamond she had ever seen._

_Serenity's eyes, brimming with awe and curiosity, fixated on the crystal. She could hear a sound filling her ears, like music or a ringing. As if drawn like a moth to a flame, her tiny feet began to step forward towards whatever called to—_

_Her mother's hands stopped her. _

_Her mother's arms scooped her up to keep her close. _

_"Listen to me, my love," her mother had whispered, as if she were telling a secret in a room full of strangers. Their foreheads pressed together and their crescent-moon birthmarks, the mark of the royal family, kissed. "The Silver Millennium Kingdom is your birthright; and the crystal is your responsibility. One day, when you are older, my responsibilities will fall on your shoulders. My power will wane and yours will grow, and the crystal will be under your protection. It and this room will grant you great power, and it will be up to you to keep it safe from those who will try and take it for their own selfish, destructive needs. Until that time when you are ready to assume that responsibility, you must only come here if you are in great danger, never for anything else. _

_"Promise me."_

_She remembered pulling away and seeing the sharp glance in her mother's eyes and feeling the firm, but gentle grip of her hands. The solemn part of herself rose to the occasion. _

_"I promise."_

She could not waste time.

She half-ran to her grandmother's effigy, and her bloodstained hands picked up the crystal. It felt heavy and empty in her grasp. She stared into the sculpted, tranquil face of her ancestor and wished that the statue were real. Back and forth, back and forth, wanting to know what to do and wishing that someone, _anyone, would come and help her, comfort her, and wake her up from this nightmare._

But there was no one.

Just her.

Only her.

With her back against the wall and the pillagers of her homeland desperate to reach her.

The emotions she had barely kept together spilled over inside her. Helplessness made her heart clench; panic made hot tears spring from her eyes and her body slump to the floor. She curled into a ball at the marble feet of her ancestor, pressing her head against the hem of the dress it wore. "Please help me. Please help me. Help me, please."

Her heart pounded. She wished she knew what to do.

_"I am the Silver Millennium Crystal."_

The voice permeated and echoed in her head. Rich and deep, it carried a timbre that seemed to hold the secrets of time itself. Her hands opened and her eyes stopped their tears to stare at what she cradled.

_"I am the Silver Millennium Crystal," _the voice repeated. _"Created by the gods, protected by their Children of the Moon to guard against darkness and Evil."_

"Darkness?"

_"Darkness. There is_…_much darkness in this land… Is this the reason you call me?" _

"Y-yes." Her hands clenched the crystal in her grasp once more. "Yes! I am Moon Princess Serenity. Heiress of the Moon Kingdom and the Silver Millennium's future ruler…I _am_ the ruler of the Moon Kingdom now…" Her hands held the crystal tighter. "I am…and I am the one that is to inherit your power to protect the Moon! My mother was Queen Serenity…my grandmother was Queen Selene.

"Please! I am asking you to accept me… Please give me your power!"

Silence.

_"And what is it that you wish of my power, child?"_

"What…do I…wish for?"

_"I have the power to do all, and grant you the wishes of your heart… __What is it that you wish of me?"_

"I wish for—" She heard another sound, the sound of pounding at the sanitarium doors. Her enemies lay in wait for her outside…they had found her somehow…! She remembered her mother's words from that day long ago, about the crystal being able to make her fondest wishes come true. "I wish to save everyone. Everyone in the Moon Kingdom…my people, my friends…Endymion…even myself! Everyone! This is my only wish now. It's my greatest wish now! Please—_grant my wish!_"

She opened her hands and stared at her only hope for salvation in her hands. Nothing. Her hands tightened around the crystal, and her body curled upon itself once more. Her eyes squeezed closed; her breathing was becoming quick and raspy. She heard the continued pounding on the doors and a disharmonious entity of voices speaking their homogeneous frustration at her being kept out of their collective, desperate reach. "Please help me save everyone."

Nothing.

Nothing.

And then…

She felt a steady heat in her hands. They opened once more, and the glow spilled over her palms, filling the room and pressing against the walls. She was being enveloped in silvery light. The crystal lifted itself from her hands and hung suspended in the air. And then it opened itself, changing before her eyes into the shape of a blooming flower that held no name.

_"Moon Princess Serenity, Heiress of the Moon and Ruler of the Silver Millennium Kingdom, your wish is great and pure of heart. It is a wish worthy of being granted. But the power you would need for it to come true is so much greater than what you now possess. _

_"Are you still wanting of this wish?"_

Her heart pounded. "…Yes. …YES! If it means that everyone will be safe, if it means that I will be able to save everyone, then yes! Grant me my wish!"

_"…Very well…"_

The crystal shattered into a thousand fragments.

And one by one, almost too fast for her to realize, the pieces turned on her.

Her scream pierced the walls as shard after shard dug into her skin, branding her nerves with its white hotness. A fire centered and grew in her chest, left her grasping for air. Her hand grabbed the hem of her ancestor's statute and tears fell from her eyes. Never had she felt this type of pain before! Her skin felt like it was peeling off, becoming part of the air itself.

And then suddenly, she realized that that was what was happening. She was becoming thin air. Already, some of her fingertips were missing. The tears that fell from her eyes dried as she stared in wonder. Wonder, in and of itself, had become stronger than pain.

Her body lifted from the floor.

The doors broke open, and she looked over to see her would-be captors. Soldiers clad in black armor raced inside, and then stopped to stare at her glowing and disintegrating form above their heads. Some grabbed at her, desperate to grasp her foot, her ankle, but for all their effort, all they did was succeed in helping her fade more. A thought of fear raced through her mind, skittish, like a marble rolling across the floor: _What is happening?_

_"Do not be afraid or worried, child. For millennia, the Children of the Moon have protected me, but this time, it is I who will protect all. U__ntil the moment comes when you are ready__…"_

She was watching the crowd of panicked soldiers parting, hailing the presence of another coming into the room. Their commanding officer. Her sight was blurring, fading, but she could see the figure was adorned in silver. Male.

Their words, excitement, and pointed fingers no longer meant anything to her.

But then the mysterious, silver-clad newcomer lifted their head. Their hands slowly removed the helmet.

And the last person she had ever expected looked up at her in awe.

Her lips parted one last time. _"You?"_

And then she saw nothing because she was nothing.

Nothing but a pure, blinding light.

* * *

_R&amp;R_


	2. II

Glossary

Sabatier: a small crater that is located at the fringes of the Mare Marginis on the moon

Shinjuku Goyen National Garden: one of four national gardens in the Tokyo prefecture; a former estate, it is now a 143-acre park

khufu: a boat whose origins trace back to Pharaoh Khufu of Egypt's 4th dynasty

Mao: The name of the planet where Luna and Artemis hail from

_(Source: Google/Wikipedia; "107 Facts about Sailor Moon," Cartoon Hangover via YouTube) _

* * *

II

* * *

The morning tranquility of house No. 7, Sabatier Lane in Juuban, Neo-Tokyo was utterly destroyed by one word.

A…name, rather.

"Serena…? …Serena?!… SERE~_NA!_ Get out of bed right now!"

Sixteen-year-old Serena Tsukino jolted awake from her fitful sleep. Sweat dripped down her back and made her blue cat-patterned pajamas cling to her skin; her chest rose and fell in heavy pants. It was like she had just finished running to school in a panic, or felt the slight, also crippling fear that came whenever she forgot something important—like her homework. But whatever it was that was making her feel like that, it was forgotten as her sleep-blurred eyes cleared and she realized someone else was in her room. "…Mom?"

"Serena." Her mother, donned in a purple dress and her favorite apron—white with patterns of red, yellow, and green apples with various numbers of bite marks—grimaced. Her lips were in a tight line and a vein seemed to pop from her temple, but her voice was calm and even as she opened with, "What time is it."

"Huh? …Time, the time…?" The bewildered teenager glanced around her messy room, cluttered with manga and clothes until finally landing on her clock. "It's ten o'clock."

Her mother's hands rested on her hips and her foot tapped on what may have been a pile of clean clothes left strewn on the floor. "What time did you say you were going to head over to the library to study?" She didn't wait for her daughter to answer, but pushed forward. "If you get the grade you got on your last Ancient Moon History test tomorrow, you'll fail your class and your grade! You'll be the oldest student in Year Two next year!"

Serena's brow knitted. "It won't be as bad as last time—"

"YOU GOT A FOURTY-FIVE LAST TIME!" Her mother's arms crossed. "I MEAN it, Serena! If you get another bad grade in that class, I will tell your father that you don't deserve to go to that event—"

"NO~!" The threat of missing out on the Coronation Announcement suddenly gave the young girl a new panic altogether. She sprung out of bed, a flurry of blankets and sheets and tiny hair ties in a multitude of colors that had fallen out her gold-blonde pigtails in her wild sleep. The two buns that sat atop her head had even become disheveled, the right being loosened enough to lay at a weird, flat angle. "I've been wanting to go to this forever and I've been studying really hard! Please don't tell him! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!" Her hands pressed together and she pressed her hands together in supplication. "I'll pass the test and get a good grade. I promise!"

"…Then let me ask you one question." Her mother's finger pointed in the air, signifying the number.

Suspense hung in the air, and Serena looked at her mother's index finger with rapt but nervous attention.

"What are the three politically-defining outcomes of The Silver Millennium Restoration?"

Serena blinked stupidly. Her hand scratched her scalp, inadvertently freeing her lop-sided bun even more. She cringed at the question itself, and what she knew was going to happen next: "Ummm…"

"That's _it_! Get ready and dressed to go to the library—NOW! And do not come back until its closed! And when you're done, you should come straight home and study some more! If I call the arcade or Naru and get the feeling that someone is lying to cover for you, you'll be in big trouble."

* * *

"It's too pretty to be inside," Serena groused, her Ancient Moon History textbook, notebook, and lunchtime bento in hand. She had escaped her mother's lecture and had started making her way toward Public Library No. 5 where she and other high school students would spend their Sunday getting ready for their finals tomorrow. As always, her footsteps slowed as she reached the crest of the bridge connecting Juuban to downtown Neo-Tokyo. A warm breeze passed through the air and kicked up the hem of her light pink hot-air balloon-patterned dress. The bridge's sidewalks were ever-present of food and souvenir vendors and tourists, and all around her were the sounds of gleeful laughter. Below her, in the channel, yachts and ferries full of tourists traveled over the azure water; an unseen tour guide, bullhorn in hand, was directing his group's attention to the north where the Moon Palace stood as an island of its own.

The teenage girl's footsteps strayed from their intended path and led to the bridge's rail. She laid her things down and pressed her hands on the concrete, relishing in the heat of the sun-warmed surface. From far away, that same tour guide was informing his audience of the stronghold that had existed even as far back as Moon Princess Serenity's youth and its eventual detachment from downtown for the sake of protecting the noblemen that resided behind its walls. His voice finally started to fade away as he gave his group more instructions and prompts to start taking pictures.

Serena thought back to her impromptu awakening and her mother's question. She pouted. "…It's not that I didn't know the answer. I've been over it every day… Who wouldn't know about the Moon Princess?"

But beyond that: Who on the Moon or maybe even the Solar System hadn't heard of her legacy, her wielding of the ancient power belonging to the royal family and saving the Moon from Evil over 100 years ago? Or didn't feel a sort of chill when it was said that her body was never found after she drove the still-unknown enemy away? Reminders of Princess Serenity's sacrifice for the Moon lingered everywhere: in the agelessness of the nobility, the fact that since the princess' resurrection of the Moon and the period of time now that everyone called "The Silver Millennium Restoration," the lords and ladies of the royal court had stopped physically aging; in the creation of the Orbital-Satellite Alliance, the agreement that angered so many people because it made the Moon dependent on the planet Earth; and even Parliament which acted as rulers in place of the royal family. Even now, all Serena had to do was turn her head towards downtown to stare at the princess' memorial in Neo-Tokyo's garden, the tall white obelisk surrounded by a ring of white lilies and scraped the sky.

Instead, she directed her glance to the Moon Palace itself. The pearl-hued castle gleamed in the afternoon sun, and its towers and roofs sparkled, though not as brightly as the golden waxing-crescent moon perched on its highest spire. It was like a fairy tale castle. Serena couldn't help but to stare at its majesty and feel the way she always did: that it was patiently waiting for something to happen.

Maybe that was the reason why the Coronation Announcement was so important. One of the ageless noblemen would be assuming the title of the Moon's new monarch. It was the biggest spectacle to happen in decades, and so sudden that had it maybe garnered the attention of the entire Solar System. The news wouldn't stop talking about what it meant for politics, both internal and interplanetary; her elderly neighbors had mentioned to her mother when the first reports came out how it was the "end of an era." And most importantly, her friends hadn't stopped talking about the televised ball that was taking place in the palace. It would maybe be the only time anyone not of royal blood would be able to see the inside of the palace—not even every delegate in Parliament had been inside the palace.

She thought about her own reaction to hearing about the ball and how she had gotten excited learning that her dad would be covering it for the national newspaper and had surprisingly been given an extra ticket by his job to bring a guest. She had begged to go instead of her mother, finally conceding to the condition of getting a good grade on her final for Ancient Moon History, her worst subject. Serena had fought against zoning out in class; she had frequently taken routes that completely avoided the arcade so that she wouldn't be distracted from going to the library (she was pretty sure everyone at Game Center Crown had forgotten what she looked like); and she had begged, her best friend Naru to let her borrow one of her fanciest dresses for the show after she had blown her money on some manga and then lost the receipt to return them.

At one point, in his surprise over the severity of her dedication to go, her father had casually mentioned how it seemed like this was a perfect way of setting up bragging rights for the following year. And he was right in a way…but in another way, the fact that she would be able to be in the Moon Palace brought on a type of feeling that went beyond the desire of wanting to be seen…she couldn't explain it; she only knew that whatever she felt was something that was always there deep inside of her, calling out to her.

She kept her glance on the Moon Palace and felt like her feet were leaving the ground. There was the faint sound that she could never place filling her ears. Like music: a bell ringing and reverberating again and again… Her heartbeat quickened and thundered in her chest.

The sounds from along the bridge or something from far off broke the trance. She blinked and drew in a deep breath; she couldn't remember when she had started holding it.

She gathered her things and backed away from the rail with careful steps and continued walking towards the city. Yet even as the image of the Moon Palace receded, she kept its gleaming silhouette in the corner of her blue eye, paler than the third planet itself.

* * *

Wonders of wonders, Serena had actually passed her test with a 70.

And miracle of miracles, her parents had actually followed through on their promise to let her go to the ceremony. She was standing in the midst of the Moon Palace's grand ballroom, staring at the gathering of people all dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos and dancing and talking with an orchestra and television camera crews all around them.

The arrival had been like a dream. She and her dad had been in the last of twenty boats heading to the palace. She had been a little disappointed that the boat she had been on wasn't a khufu like the ones she saw carrying dignitaries and other important people, with its sleek shape, open decks, and canopies with softly glowing lanterns, but one of the naval ships that flanked them. Her boat had been full of journalists like her dad and soldiers in white uniforms with gold braiding and swords on their hip, but that was okay. She had received a lot of compliments for her borrowed dress, pastel blue with a long skirt and train that wafted around her ankles gently whenever she walked or picked up its skirt.

At least she had been able to see the crowds like she was royalty. The sides of the channel and the bridge were full of people from all over the universe, screaming and cheering and waving. There were even some signs being held that said things like, "Hooray for the Moon!" and others that bared the royal family's birthmark and declared "Forever Loyal To Princess Serenity!" A few other people sang or yelled that they were from Mercury or as far as Neptune. From time to time, what looked like lit paper lanterns were lifted into the sky, like fireflies. It was beautiful.

But it was nothing like what was hidden behind the palace walls. A quick emptying of the boats and walk down the loading docks, and they were actually inside the grounds of the Moon Palace! It was like a city in and of itself; she could see things she had never imagined being here, like the large houses with perfect green lawns and grand staircases that led to their front doors. Every one of them had a flagpole baring the crescent-moon insignia. Even the walkway bore a sort of perfection with its white cobblestones that cut through patches of perfectly tended lawns and open courtyards or gazebos with stone rotundas.

But even the grounds paled in comparison to the grand ballroom's beauty. "This is the enfilade, Serena," her father had said as she gripped his arm tightly. "This is where the queen would host her parties. I heard once the princess danced across the ballroom's floor all night with a dignitary from one of the other planets." It was breathtaking: multiple floors and grand staircases lined with velvet carpets. Tall, arched windows that showed the rest of the grounds in all its glory: acres of land for as far as she could see, and even a field of roses along the far wall. Its walls were painted with patterns of archers and animals and images of angels with outstretched arms. Her eyes curiously stared at their fingertips and noticed how the figures seemed to gather around a circle in the ceiling where the full moon was painted.

"You can walk and look around if you want, but please make sure to find me again when the ceremony begins." Her father dug out his pen and small notepad from the breast pocket of his tuxedo.

She did, circling around the ballroom over and over again, watching important people dancing, talking and laughing, and eating. Several times she ached to touch the ballroom's walls, especially the spaces where it looked like they were solid gold, but she was afraid of being reprimanded by the soldiers that stood on either side of each entrance, or being caught on camera and later being called a weirdo. At one point, she had even wanted to walk upstairs and see all that could be seen from there, but decided against it. Despite the clearance badge she had clipped to her dress, she doubted if she would be allowed. But she could see up there from where she stood, and noticed the people upstairs dressed in full white. The teen guessed that those were the noblemen and their families. They mainly stayed away from view as the night drew on, but of the few beautiful faces she had seen, she couldn't help but notice they all had a wise, knowing look to their eyes that made them older than how they looked.

She was eating maybe her third plate of little sweets and finger sandwiches when the music began to quiet down. It wasn't hard to find her father again; he barely looked at her before tilting his chin towards the stage. "They're getting ready," he murmured to her and smiled.

A man with long white hair dressed in a white tuxedo made his way to the stage. The huge television affixed above gave a close up of his sour-apple green eyes, and a long gold necklace bejeweled with tiny waxing-crescent moons across the lapels of his white suit. "Hello. My name is Artemis Mao, and I am a server to the Moon Kingdom's royal court. It is my honor and privilege to have been chosen to welcome you all, our guests, to the Moon Palace on this night." He closed his eyes and, with his hand over his heart, bowed. Polite applause came from the crowd at the traditional gesture of respect.

"In the hundred years since the royal family's…demise, we have been bestowed to live a lifetime, a great gift of life that was given to us by our dear Princess Serenity. Knowing her…I knew how full of life she was, and of her love for the Moon and all its living souls. It was her love for us that led her to save us when we needed it most, and it was her love of everyday that has blessed now us to see every day." Again he stood silent to the sounds of clapping.

"However, we caretakers of the Moon have allowed this wonderful land and the Princess' gift to fall stagnant. As our people have grown and changed, we have not grown with them. We have isolated ourselves from you all. It is on this night, with the announcement of our future ruler and their eventual coronation, that we take the first steps towards reuniting ourselves with our people, and walking with them to the future they continue to pave.

"Our decision was not a hasty one. And among ourselves, we chose the one we felt was the most worthy for the responsibility and the weight carried with the title of ruler.

"My fellow people of the Moon, I present to you your future king, Prince Diamond!" The man, Artemis', arm rose towards the back where the stairs stood.

The crowd's attention turned.

From the unseen royals of the second floor came a man unto the stairwell, tall and stately, dressed in a white suit with a dark purple cape. His steps from that second floor were precise and confident. He reached the bottom of the step, and the crowd before him finally parted. Applause rose awkwardly. His trek towards the stage seemed to take a lifetime in and of itself. Serena could smell his cologne from where she stood. And even though he never looked at her, she saw through the fringe of his white hairs that his eyes were purple.

She gasped, panicked.

The crowd hushed.

He reached the stage and stood next to Artemis, bending his head slightly to the latter's deeper bow.

"I thank you, my people. In due time, I hope to become a king that you need: a beacon and pillar of strength to all. I ask for your loyalty and pride as I assume the role that has been bestowed on me. I am humbled, and I am happy to serve you."

He bowed that time, a true bow that made his torso parallel to the floor and his cape fall over his shoulders.

Applause rose again once more, louder and more accepting this time.

Serena's heartbeat thudded in her chest.

_"No." _She heard the word in her head in a multitude of voices.

"No," she said in a voice that was hers and yet…wasn't at the same time.

Serena felt her body become hot. The room spun; her heart sped up and it became hard to breathe. She felt her limbs go numb. The hand that held her cup fell limply to her side, and said cup fell to the floor. Belatedly she felt the splash of liquid on her leg, the gasps of others around her, horrified and angry that their clothes and shoes were ruined; her father's own worried voice.

Her footsteps stumbled forward and she pushed herself through the crowd.

_"This cannot be allowed to transpire."_

"NO!" she looked towards the stage and shouted. The crowd was distancing itself from her. There was a ringing that filled her ears…the sound she always felt whenever she was on the bridge filled her ears. She could feel panic all around her, and see soldiers coming for her, their gloved hands on the hilt of their swords. "I won't let this happen!"

_"…Your time has not yet come, child. But letting this occur_—_" _

"I won't let it," she murmured to the voice, reassuring it. "I promise: I'm ready."

And then, standing under the image of the Moon above head, the world went dark.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ __It's hard deciding if I want to strongly follow __Sailor Moon Crystal__/the manga, or the 90s television show. My favorite version is really the manga; there's a maturity in Usagi that took so many episodes to see from the TV show, and that's what I'm hoping to portray. But the aim in this case was definitely a sort of immaturity. Regardless, I hope that Serena's personality shines through despite the short amount of dialogue.__

_I seriously became an architectural fanatic writing this. Most of the inspiration of the Moon Palace came from Ancient Athens' Argos and the Osborne House in the UK, to various cathedrals and the Washington Monument. Thank goodness for Google._

_...I also feel like there's a drinking game waiting to happen here. Take a sip every time you read the word "moon," "princess," and/or "white," and then tell me how you feel afterwards. LoL _

_R&amp;R and add me to your Story Alerts. _


	3. III

III

* * *

_His piqued curiosity about what had suddenly happened below, the eerie calm after yelling and panic, was suddenly overcome by a change within him. It was something powerful, a sensation of warmth and…light __burning__ in his chest. It almost made him fall to his knees, as if he just suffered a terrible blow. His hand gripped the doorframe to remain steadfast and his blue eyes stared down at his chest; he truly expected to see a glow through his dress shirt._

_All around him, the other nobles and elite were gasping and pressing their palms over their hearts as well. Their eyes were wide as they stared at one another, surprised at what they were feeling and unsure of what to do. The swell of panic in their voices, the fear of not knowing what was happening to them, spurred him to move. And he did so, venturing where from he had chosen to stay visible yet ignored, and half-running through them and towards the balcony of the Mezzanine. He gripped the railing and looked out into the chaos of the crowd. _

_And it was then that he saw her. _

_Serenity._

_She was levitating high in the air, the train of her dress billowing about her. Head thrown back, hair the color of gold and in those pigtails she loved to wear, skin kissed by the sun, and long and slender fingers… Different and yet unchanged; the way he always remembered her. She was brightness; she was…color…_

_His world came to a halt._

_His heart beat in a way he had not felt it do so for over 100 years._

_Maybe he was dreaming again. Another dream of her that he would have to abandon come daylight._

_Maybe…maybe he was dead. After a century of longing and a secret desire to be freed, he was truly dead and finally able to be with her. _

_And then he realized it was neither death nor his imagination._

_It was __her__. Alive._

_There was not a sound as she came down and her feet touched the stage. From his faraway perch, he gaped as she turned to face the crowd and opened her eyes. The wide, pale-blue eyes he had expected to see were instead orbs of pure silver light._

_"I am Moon Princess Serenity, heiress of the Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium and the namesake of Queen Serenity, and I have returned for you and the glory of our future."_

_She fainted. _

_The feeling in his chest abated as sounds from the gathering rose._

_He watched as Diamond approached her and scooped her up in his arms__…_

The guard placed a fist over his heart and bowed his head slightly. "With all due respect, Your Royal Highness, this meeting of the elders is barred from…outside dignitaries. Only a select few have been allowed entry."

_Of course._ Prince Endymion had expected denied entry from where it was obviously known to all the elders of the Moon were talking among themselves, per usual. He knew that because of who he was, he was expected to turn around and swallow his pride. Suffer the stares from the row of guards that barred the perimeter from outsiders, and the scrutiny of the Moon's elite that were only brave enough to idle from a distance and crane their necks in hopes of hearing something from the air warehouse-turned-"bomb shelter." He was expected to walk back to his quarters, in plain view of the ones that passively stood at the palace's windows and speculated about him, sweating in his black suit in the late morning sun all the while. _As if their opinions about you would have changed overnight. You forget; after all these years, who are you to __them__ but an_ _outsider?_

But for once, he drew in a deep breath and changed his approach. "In lieu of last night's occurrence and what it means between Earth-Moon relations, I humbly seek the approval of…three attendees for entry." It was a pretty good excuse, reminiscent of when he had first arrived in days long gone. He could hope that the one he expected was inside would agree to entry, and that fortune would look down on him and make two more not mind his presence.

The guard blinked at him and then turned toward the other eavesdropping soldiers in confusion; they had expected him to retreat as well. He could see the guard turning over the words in his mind, and actually relenting under its reasoning. "…I will voice your request. Please wait here." The guard opened the heavy wooden doors and slid through the gap. Endymion could hear him as he shouted his request, but not the replies given.

The guard appeared as quickly as he had left. "Three attendees have allowed for your entry. You may enter, Your Royal Highness."

He did so, feeling the cool air touch his skin and the scrape of concrete underfoot.

The "bomb shelter" had never actually been used as such in the decades following the attack on the Moon, and its momentarily conversion was, if being polite, laughable: there was a long table set up in the center of the room covered in a white cloth and laden with bowls of fruit, bread and muffins, jars of honey and jams and jellies, and chilled glass pitchers of water and wine. The elders, a dozen in all, sat in chairs also covered in white cloths. Their clothing was different from the night before, and the large lamps above exaggerated their grizzled appearances and the pale skin of all Moon royalty. While he felt comfort from the generated cool air, a few of the women who had been in the space longer wore their thickest frocks.

None looked at him, and he could feel the air of superiority from their seated figures.

He spied Luna and Artemis' standing and was pleased about their being allowed entry. After all, no one handled the ins and outs of the palace better than the couple. Their all-white clothing from the night before, so different from Luna's usual yellow dresses and the colorful vests and ties Artemis was known for, was wrinkled. Judging from the half-circles underneath their eyes, neither of them in their duty to accommodate to the elders' whims, had been able to sleep yet. In fact, they had likely been given the task of preparing for this meeting and then waiting for the elders to stop speaking long enough to acknowledge them.

And Diamond was standing as well. Endymion's smile widened and he directed a bow towards his century-long friend.

The Moon prince's own smile and bow was brief in return. "…Now that Prince Endymion has entered, please continue, Luna."

Luna gave a deep curtsy and picked up a sheet of paper. "Your Royal Highness, the topic is now of the young girl. …Upon your instruction, she was placed in one of the far-off guest suites in the sub-eastern wing. The suite is now under heavy guard, and the soldiers stationed there have been told to notify their superiors should anything change."

"And her parents?" An elder named Aglecta, a severe-looking woman with a large nose and a bunch of white feathers in her French twist asked.

"Madame. Her father is in the same suite and we sent for her mother—"

"That is not what I meant, Luna." The woman snapped, upset that the raven-haired woman had dared to actually believe that she would ask so simple a question. Endymion's felt his long-standing ire for the woman thicken in his mouth. "There was a significant gap of time between the removal of the girl and her father from the ballroom and into the suites, and the call for this meeting. What do we now know of the parents? What do we know of _her_, the girl?!"

"My apologies…" Luna swallowed nervously before continuing. "All that is known for now is what her father told us during our interviews: her name is Serena Tsukino. She is sixteen and a student at the high school located in the third suburb outside of Neo-Tokyo, Juuban. She is Moon-born…and according to him, she has never done anything like this before…"

Artemis stood and bowed before addressing the group. His hand briefly brushed his wife's arm in comfort. "We have contacted the officials at the Office of Public Records to trace the genealogy of her parents as instructed by you, Madam Aglecta. They are making the investigation for any possible royal bloodlines a high priority, and the results of their search will be sent with the utmost confidentiality."

This seemed to please most of the elders. But just as quickly as they fell to silence, another, a man with a thick brown mustache streaked with gray, spoke up: "…To think Serenity's spirit has always been here on the Moon. And we failed in finding her."

His words brought discontented grumbling and shifting from the others.

"We had to give up searching for the princess generations ago…!" Aglecta snapped. "There was no trace of her body or power to be found! We _knew_ that! so spare us the feeling of guilt!"

Her words brought on chaos:

"I do not believe anyone is disputing that. We have known our limits for the greater part of this era."…"And _how_ would we had been able to find her? We have no power of our own. The Moon's power has always derived from the royal family!"…"Surely she is of royal blood _somewhere_! Do we not know _more_?! Why would a search take so long?"…"Her name must be of _some_ indication…but 'Tsukino' is not a familiar last name to _me_…what is it?"

"We all know we could not find her before now," Aglecta slammed her hand down on the table, effectively silencing them all with a sharp, beady eye. "But the fact that she did not appear until last night proves that she was hiding! She was willing to let us fall into disarray!"

Prince Endymion felt a sweep of anger and stepped further towards their table. "That is not true!"

The room fell into an altogether different silence. A few of the elders turned to face him with glares he imagined were akin to actual daggers. He was again the outsider, the literal speck of black in the room. Luna's face turned red out of embarrassment for him, but he continued. "She loved the Moon and its people; she sacrificed herself for us all. For what reason would she choose to hide from us?"

Suddenly, he heard his words and the gaffe he had made. The past and things he had reminded them of. "…F-from _you_?"

Too late.

"…We have all forgotten ourselves in the heat of this revelation. And because of that, we have spoken too freely about matters that should always be treated with the utmost confidentiality," someone said. Endymion did not look over to see which one; he knew they all felt the same. "I move for this meeting to be adjourned."

"I second the motion."

"Same."

Prince Diamond bowed, realizing what a lost cause the meeting had become. "Then I bid you all farewell. …Guards, please open the entryway!"

And like that, the large doors opened wide enough to let the Elders of the Moon exit the shelter. Many spared the Earth-born prince no more than a glance. His face burned in anger even as Luna came to him and touched his arm, a smile on her face and light shining in her eyes. He may have mumbled something kind and honest in response to her quiet word of thanks. But then it was only he and the man he considered to be a friend.

Diamond sighed, breaking his calm mien. "Thank the gods! We have been here for the entire night."

"The entire night?" The dark-haired prince asked mockingly to detract from his ire.

"They convened a few hours before sunrise, and I saw it break through those windows up there. So yes, the entire night." He flopped into his chair and threw his head back. "…I suspected you would learn of our meeting, but not for you to demand entry _or_ speak out of turn." He straightened up and motioned for the Earth-born royal to venture further, to be seated. "You were brash, my friend…" he lifted his head and flashed a brief smile, "but I agree with you."

Endymion sunk into a still-warm chair. He did not offer an apology or acknowledge the reprimand. "…For what reason would she hide herself?" He asked again.

The Moon-born prince began to search for a clean cup and upon finding one, began to pour himself some wine. "I do not think there is one… Serenity would not hide herself from us of her own will…"

"So…what then? What am I not understanding."

He took a sip of his wine. "I have always believed that was the work of the Silver Millennium Crystal, Endymion. That Serenity's disappearance was wholly dependent on the crystal. Last night just proves it." His next sip became a longer draught.

_The Silver Millennium Crystal._ Endymion had not heard those words pieced together in so long. The ancient power that was whispered about during his true youth on Earth…the ancient power that had piqued his curiosity enough to bring him to the Moon…the ancient power that had given him back his life and extended it… "Now that last night happened, what does this mean?"

"…It can mean so many things—even they," he made a sweeping gesture over the once-occupied chairs, "are not entirely sure of the ramifications. We have no idea if this means we are truly free from danger…or even if we are still correct in assuming the reincarnation of her senshi actually occurred on their respective planets." Diamond suddenly smiled again. "But, however it transpired, our princess is back now. The Moon can be strong as it once was before."

Endymion sat silently for a few moments, thinking of the previous night and the way the sight of the girl made his heart beat inside of his chest. He knew how he had felt hours ago, that feeling of…hope. But now in the light of day, his expression hardened. "That girl is not Serenity."

Diamond's response was cut off with noise. Endymion looked over to see the same guardsman who had tried to bar his entry standing in the doorway. "I apologize for not announcing myself, Your Royal Highness…Prince Endymion."

Diamond waived off the apology. "What is it?"

"We just received word from the palace. The girl has awakened."

* * *

Serena still felt like herself, which was…kind of a weird thought.

…She knew everything she was supposed to know about herself: how things sounded to her, how the food she liked tasted, and the types of manga she liked reading. Things that she _knew_, but she felt like it was…necessary to go over them.

She had no idea when she had fallen asleep, let alone when she had been placed in this bedroom with pale yellow walls and gold-trim, and a grand bed with its frame of gold and matching silk sheets and canopy. Her mouth felt dry; her stomach growled.

She stepped off the bed and then off its raised platform. No problem. She made sure to avoid the leg of a small table beside the window. She glanced out the window, and a thought occurred to her: this view of the palace grounds was her least favorite; her own bedroom had the best view because it faced the front.

She found where the bathroom door was, opened the door with no problem and her finger deftly flipped the light switch on.

And there she was in the bathroom. Serena Tsukino: same hairstyle, same perfect dress, with smudges of the pink lipstick and makeup she had used from the night before.

But smack-dab in the middle of her forehead, between her bangs, was now a crescent moon-shaped mark a few shades darker than her skin.

She blinked. Her face neared the mirror.

Her finger pressed against it, feeling the smooth skin. She rubbed at it like it was a smudge.

It didn't go away. If anything, the skin, in the shape of an upturned "U," just turned a bit red.

She drew back suddenly, mortified and confused. "Oh…oh…_oh_…"

She bolted from the bathroom, and in her familiar clumsiness, her ankle caught the leg of the same nightstand. She toppled down and picked herself again. "Ow!" It wasn't hard to find where the bedroom door was, but still the teen wrestled with the door handle. Her hand slammed against the wood. "Someone, please! Let me out! Let me OUT!" She was trying very hard not to cry.

The door on the other side rattled and she stepped back as it gave.

It took her a moment to recognize the people on the other side: "Dad? …Mom?"

Her mother was dressed in her best outfit, a dark-blue dress with a pattern of red roses. She wrapped her arms around the teenager. "Oh, Serena…Serena…"

_"Serena"…that's my name. My actual name__…__right? Right. _"What's going on?" She stared at the space, a kind of lobby arranged with stuff that probably cost more than her entire house. "…Where are we_…_?"

Her mother relented in her hug and pulled back. There were tears in her eyes and her face looked puffy; she had been crying for a long time. Her father's hair was disheveled and his tuxedo jacket had been discarded. There were sweat patches in his dress shirt's underarms. He stared at her forehead with red-rimmed eyes. Like he wasn't completely sure who she was. Like he was in awe of her.

"…Do you feel any _different_, Serena?"

_Do I feel different?_ She stared into the faces of her parents at a complete loss of words.

"…No…" And yet…

"Do you…remember what you did?"

Panic rose within her. "…No!" And yet… "What did I do?!"

Her parents exchanged a look between them. "Honey," her mother whispered, "I saw you on TV. You, you floated in the air!" Her mother's eyebrows rose and her fingertips flexed to the ceiling. "And your _eyes_! And the things you said…"

It all came rushing back to her: the announcement; her reaction in the middle of all those people…rising from the ground.

Her promise to the voice.

She gasped.

"They're saying…they're telling us that _you_ are…the princess. The princess of the kingdom."

Her eyes widened. "What?! That's…that's…"

Cuckoo bananas.

And yet!

_Of course I am. Who else would I be?_

The doors of the suite opened and in came two guards telling her mother to please let her go. And in walked the man from last night. The man they called Prince Diamond. And behind him were much older men and women she had never seen up close before but knew: the Elders of the Moon Kingdom, the family's advisers. They filed into the room and stood in a row.

Her parents bowed deeply in their presence. She didn't because she _knew_ she wasn't supposed to…if anything, they were to bow to her.

Prince Diamond fell to his knees before her. "I, for my own self and on the behalf of our elders, the keepers of the Moon Kingdom in your absence, bow in respect to you. We have long awaited your return."

Silence fell. And in a voice that sounded like hers and yet wasn't, she replied. "I was away for much too long."

"Yes. One hundred years…"

Her brow furrowed. "…Things have changed."

"Yes. But as I did when your mother was alive, I promise my allegiance to you. And I promise to act as your guide as you assume your role as ruler of us all. Your Royal Highness, Moon Princess Serenity." He lifted his head to stare at her with those purple eyes of his.

Serena's eyes widened. She blinked and shook her head slightly, as if trying to shake away a haze in her head. She wanted to say that this was crazy-nuts. That a mistake had been made because she _couldn't_ be who they all were saying she was. And yet: "Yes. Thank you." She looked up at the faces of her parents and the Elders of the Moon, safe and sound as she had been wished for them to be. She smiled. "I thank you all for your loyalty. Please guide me well."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Endymion's debut. So while his part introduced other characters and some AU people I've created, it's missing one thing: the senshi! Where are they? Um, well: not here. I feel like it would be hard to put the senshi in and have their personalities shape to fit the plot. It would just be a lot of people to juggle, so they're not going to be here. AU_

_I've always imagined Princess Serenity's conscious(?) awaking inside Serena and how difficult that would be. There's something interesting in the idea of Serena/Usagi's early immaturity "battling" with Serenity's royal upbringing and slightly more mature personality. So I'm going to play with that idea._

_Thanks for reading so far. Please give me reviews and add me to your Alerts!_


	4. IV

IV

* * *

"…I believe I speak for us all when I say it is our pleasure in our role as your subjects and followers to guide you throughout this time. It will be hard work for every one of us, but we shall endeavor to prepare you for the day you accept the throne and truly become Her Royal Majesty of the Moon. Please mark this evening, your debut, as the confirmation of our continued pledge of loyalty."

Serena, from her place beside Prince Diamond on stage, took a deep breath as the attention of the congregation steadied itself on her. Being debuted to the Moon's noblemen and women was like a dream. It was hard to believe that until recently, she had just been a regular girl looking at the palace on her way to town. It had been just a place that seemed to be so much further than a boat ride away, but now, here she was.

Her forehead tingled. It was something it had done since almost her first night in the Moon Palace.

Staring out into the sea of their beautiful, pale, and expectant faces, she thought about her parents back in Juuban, how they had let her go to with kisses and promises to write; and she thought about other things that she would be leaving behind in her former, ordinary life.

She smiled. "Thank you. Thank you all."

She bowed and the applause for her rose.

* * *

Serenity's Reincarnation was in the courtyard adjacent to his quarters. She sat on the single brick bench, her long pigtails gathered in her lap. Her fingers played with the hem of her short and plain white dress.

This was the first time Endymion had truly seen her without the elders and their usual guards surrounding her. In fact, it was the first time he had seen her at all since her formal debut to the Moon royals. But, then again, it was not as though he had endeavored to be within such short proximity of her. He had been made more than aware that he was outside of the bubble of fascination the others, the Moon elite, had for her.

Her now permanent residency behind the palace walls had brought a spark of life to the usual ebb and flow of activity. The prince could hardly remember the last time so much attention had been placed upon one person, let alone one that could be considered an outsider. The first few days of her arrival were not only marked by her debut, but by other things: tours of both the palace's lush grounds and opulent interior; the royal baker's presentation of tiny cakes and pastries and candies for her to try; and hours spent in her private quarters—Serenity's old rooms—as the palace's seamstress and designers vied for her attention and exclusivity with numerous racks of clothes, shoes, and jewelry. The excited whispers he overheard from the servers who normally deigned to whisper out of earshot when bringing his meals only confirmed what he knew were the royals' thoughts about the girl and her similarities to their long-lost princess, regardless if they were real or imagined: how her fascination with seemingly simple things like the grand ballroom's walls was like the princess' own childlike curiosity; how she seemed to have inherited the princess' sweet tooth and liking of the bakers' pastries.

Artemis and Luna liked her. On top of the other duties the latter undertook in tending to the elders, she had been assigned as the girl's main au pair, and so spent time with her during meals. However, despite the added responsibility of babysitting—yet another thing he felt Luna was more than overqualified to perform—the dark-haired woman seemed to glorify in the ease that came from being around the girl: apparently, spending meals with her was the least stressful part of the day. She even mentioned how remarkable it was that Serenity's Reincarnation was so particularly fascinated with her view of the channel and bridge from Serenity's drawing room. Artemis' time with her during their etiquette lessons was, in his own words, "a little more stressful," but he remained undaunted and cognizant to the girl's needs for instruction. He found the challenge in trying to make things like decorum practices seem interesting to a teenager, and delight when realizing she seemed taken with his company and lessons. Much of his time formerly spent with the white-haired man that revolved around discussions of Parliament and its politics now consisted of these tales.

No—Endymion did not understand this magnetism she evoked. And yet, he had gone to the debut and watched from afar as the girl dazzled them all with her presence, the long, satin cream-colored dress she wore, and the "crowns" of orange roses that framed the buns atop her head. Heartfelt laughter had filled his ears that night as they curtsied upon being introduced to her and marveled at her appearance. He watched the way she walked and spoke and ate from the rainbow-array of desserts. He was unsure of how he had felt about their shared fascination towards her, as if she were a toy or automaton. It felt very…familiar.

And here she was now, so close to him.

He purposely scraped the bottom of his loafer against the brick walkway as he ventured into the space. _His_ space. But, he quickly realized that Serenity's beloved doppleganger, oft spoken of to and around him, was not the same girl he was meeting face-to-face.

Despite the things he had overheard as of late about her smile, she looked completely desolate. Her eyes were brimming with tears. The look on her face told him she did not know of him; that she was unsure if he had come to take her back to the palace and have her face the people she wanted to be away from the moment. Either way, she began to scramble to stand.

"No, no," he heard himself saying. His hand raised to give her pause, "You do not have to leave if you are unprepared to do so."

Hesitantly, she sat down once more.

He himself did not debate whether to stay or leave. He settled down on the bench as well, about a foot away from her. His attention focused on the center of the courtyard and his thoughts of the koi fish swimming inside the large fountain before them as per usual. How they remained undisturbed by things occurring outside of their separate little worlds. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and loosened the cuffs, folding back his sleeves to get more comfortable. A sniffle punctuated the sounds of splashing in the fountain's water. There was yelling from far off; clearly the lack of her expected presence to wherever had been noticed by the guards by now, but if she realized they were looking for her, she made no move to notice or to make her whereabouts known. And none ventured towards his area.

She suddenly lifted her head up as if needing to break the silence existing between them. "I'm sorry about coming over here. I don't mean to bother you." She looked around her. "…I don't even know how I found this place."

His blue eyes remained focused on the sight of Earth peeking over the ground's back wall. "It is quite alright."

Relative silence once more as she gazed at the ground. More sniffling and wiping away of tears.

He looked over at her and found that he was unable to be silent much longer. "…Is there something wrong?"

She took a deep, shaky breath and shook her head. "I'm just tired. I just came from my lesson with Aglecta, and it just…left me a little frustrated."

Ah. He had heard of these lessons and the elder's staunch demand to teach them from Diamond. Apparently, his least favorite elder of all believed that the girl's materialization in the both the sense of her physical presence as well as her display of power during the night of the Coronation Announcement was a trace of the Silver Millennium Crystal's power. And in thinking along that particular vein, she was now intent on seeing if the girl was a needed clue towards finding the crystal itself. She could not be moved to think otherwise and insisted that it was necessary to see if any power existed in her at all. According to his friend, harnessing the crystal's power was a lesson that Serenity would have eventually undertaken had she and the queen had both lived. It was for that reason alone that the other elders did not dare dissuade her.

Endymion could only imagine these administered teachings. Ninety minutes of Aglecta holding counsel in the private meeting room where the coronation portraits of Queens Selene and Serenity and a posthumous painting of the princess hung, the legendary crystal hovering in each woman's cupped hands. He was remembering one of the elder's criticisms of the young girl that a server had overheard in passing by the meeting room during one such lesson: a tirade over an emerald-green dress the girl had worn, and how it was insulting to see that she did not follow the penchant of the women of the royal family to wear white, the royal color of the Moon. Some absurd nonsense.

"I just don't get why she seems to hate me." The girl said suddenly, shaking her head. "I'm following her directions. I'm opening my palm," the hand in her lap did indeed open and fingers extended to all corners, "and concentrating, but nothing comes, and she…" That same hand wiped at another tear that fell from her eyes. Endymion could not ignore her long, dark eyelashes, how they fanned out the same way Serenity's did.

Of course, the girl now knew of this…coincidence too.

Again, he spoke. "Aglecta is intimidating—intentionally so. It is not to test your strength or fortitude, and no one will be able to provide an explanation for her temperament. Not the other elders, or servers, or even Diamond."

"I know…but," she licked her lips for a moment before saying, "I started crying." She shook her head, as if ashamed of herself. "I told myself I wasn't going to, that it wouldn't help, but she wouldn't…I just couldn't hold them in… She wasn't moved."

"…It is best to find a way to not take her criticism to heart."

Her brows furrowed, upsetting the mark on her forehead ever so slightly. "How could I do that?"

He considered the question. "…Well, for one thing," he said, again focusing on the sight of the fountain before them, "you could remind yourself that no matter how hard she tries not to, she looks like a vulture."

…Silence…

An abrupt sound punctuated the air: a snicker, one that grew into a giggle. "A vulture?" Laughter, one that grew stronger and louder. Brighter.

The prince's eyebrow rose. "It is true."

The girl seemed incapable of stopping herself. "A vulture!" It was as if it were the first time she had heard a joke in her life.

He turned to her and began to speak. "She prefers to wear feathers, as you have noticed." She faced him now and nodded. "She once wore an outfit that seemed to be made up of feathers: long feathers on the collar, sleeves, and on the train of her dress. It is not attire uncommon for the noblewomen of the Moon, especially during that time, but she honestly looked like a bird, and not a particularly attractive one…"

_He was still in disbelief over the statement he had just heard. "What?"_

_Serenity's smile widened and she nodded, sure in her assessment. "Aglecta looks like an actual vulture tonight." She glanced up at him, mirthful if not impish in her expression. All her sudden worries about _—_ completely forgotten. "Look for yourself."_

_Endymion did so. There, along the outskirts of the dance floor was the sour-faced Moon elder watching others around her in the air of dancing and joy. While the other elders continued to be predictably standoffish during their meetings with the queen and only had a few suggestions here and there, Aglecta had not failed to voice what was her disapproval with the terms of what his people called the Earth-Moon Alliance. She was a staunch isolationist. __It was not as though he was unused to disagreement—many of his father's own advisers were against this idea of an alliance—but rather the manner in which she displayed it. He knew of her temperament, but he was now a witness to her near incapability to control her behavior and words, even in the presence of her ruler. She was honestly the most vocally dissident on the subject of the Moon lending its aide to the planet it revolved._

_The young prince stared at the thin, long-limbed woman once more. The white, floor-length dress she had on was needlessly elaborate, with a semi-high collar and embroidered sleeves and skirt. But it was the long, brown-tipped feathers that ran along said collar, the bottom of her forearms, and the dress' train that grabbed his attention. And with her gray hair smoothed back the way it was_…_and her nose? It was clear that she had insisted on looking the way she did that night, like a…_

_Before he knew it, he was laughing loudly as well, ignoring the curious glances of onlookers who wanted to know the joke. The princess had joined in once more, and it was with difficulty that they finally stopped. _

_"I do not think it will ever be again possible to take her seriously during our talks."_

_The Moon princess grinned, and he noticed the pretty shade of pink spreading over the apples of her cheeks as he stared at her. "Good. I do not think you should be so afraid of a vulture that thinks herself a dove…"_

_He smiled at her, at how clever she and her words were. And, not for the first time that evening or at any other time since he had first laid eyes upon her, he wished he could kiss her… _

The girl continued laughing, shaking her head in disbelief, her reasons for sadness forgotten.

The prince realized he was smiling as well.

"Here you are!"

Luna was standing at the entrance into the courtyard, her brown eyes shifting from him to the girl and back again. Endymion was familiar with that look of cloaked surprise, but if the raven-haired woman wanted to make a comment, she did not act upon it. Her focus zeroed in on the girl. "The guards that were to escort you panicked when they came upon an empty meeting room! And Artemis was also worried; you were to meet him after your lesson with Aglecta! We have searched just about everywhere, and here you are! If I had not heard you laughing—"

The girl sobered, realizing the severity of the situation Luna described. "Sorry. Aglecta dismissed me early because…she doesn't let guards stand outside the door. And when she left, I just thought it would be good to see things by my—" She suddenly closed her eyes, a look of pain on her face. Her fingertips pressed themselves on her forehead. "Myself."

The bit of anger Luna possessed immediately dissipated. She walked into the space and squatted in front of the girl, uncaring about her long skirt trailing on the brick-laid ground. "Did you just have another headache?" She asked quietly, motherly_…_

"Yeah." She drew in a quick, deep breath and her eyes opened. "Just now."

Luna looked at the girl for a moment before sighing. "…Artemis wanted to try something new with your etiquette lesson, but he will understand if he is unable do so because you do not feel well. You should rest."

The girl nodded and stood. "Okay."

It was time to go back to his world of isolation. He could feel the grin slowly fading from his face.

They both stood. "Thank you, Prince Endymion," Luna said with a deep bow towards him.

He placed his hand on his chest and bowed slightly towards them both. "Luna."

The girl made a sudden expression of surprise, and he realized he would never learn the reason behind it. She bowed toward him with a hand over her heart. "Thank you…Your Royal Highness. My name is Serena, and it was nice to meet you."

He watched as she was led away…

* * *

_It all began with a cough in her mother's chest. A strong cough, thick with phlegm, that had begun during the daily afternoon walk through the rose garden._

_Princess Serenity had been disappointed because their walks were her favorite part of the day, but not too greatly worried. The ruler of the Moon's power and dignified air was known among their allies throughout the Solar System, but it was known in the kingdom that her mother was not always as strong as she was now; that she had fallen sick many times as a child. _

_This particular cough had persisted for the rest of the day, but Serenity had not been worried until her mother, who always moved gracefully with purpose and never made a misstep Serenity could remember, accidentally knocked over her goblet of water during a coughing fit at dinner._

_The princess pushed her chair back the moment the water splashed and cascaded over her dinner and into her lap. "Mama! Mama, are you okay?!" The queen's face had become pink; the sound that came from her mother's mouth seemed to be never ending. The princess looked about the room in a panic, at a sea of faces as worried as her own, but hidden behind poised hands and pristine cloth napkins. Her senshi, ever close by, were at their side immediately with Mercury directing the others, instructing Jupiter to straighten their fallen chairs and Venus to pour some water. She could only watch as her mother sipped from the cup forced into her hands. It was after several moments that she took deep breaths._

_Her mother finally gave her the assurance she desired by cupping the side of her cheek, her thumb tracing its curve. "I am all right." She smiled tightly. "Do not worry so." _

_The princess' brow furrowed over what had transpired, at her mother's still strained expression and the warm, clammy feel of the hand on her face. "But, Mama…" Her words were cut off with the approach of another figure._

_Diamond, dressed in a white suit with black trim and his favorite obsidian-diamond cufflinks, did not go through the practiced etiquette of bowing to the queen, but rather immediately addressed her directly. "Your Majesty, are you all right?"_

_"Yes, I am," her mother stood with his aid and Serenity watched his hand press into her side "but tired. Maybe I should retire for tonight."_

_"Mama, I—" _

_"I know you wish to accompany me, but please stay here for the moment. Be with the others for me. You can come to my quarters when tea and coffee are served." The queen turned to the senshi with a wan but playful smile. "Ladies, please make sure she does not look so worried for the duration of dinner."_

_With hands over their chests and bowed heads, Princess Serenity watched all them make their playful oath to her. _

_"Let me accompany you." Diamond said, moving his hand and offering her the crook of his arm. "I can have someone in the kitchens prepare you some tea upon my return."_

_"Yes," Queen Serenity agreed, "rosehip with honey, thank you." She turned back to her daughter's worried face and smiled. "Do not worry, my love. I will stay awake just for you." She carefully rested her hand in the crook of the younger nobleman's elbow and let herself be escorted out._

_The queen's exodus from the banquet hall was punctuated by the respectful standing of the other royals as always. But Serena could hear their whispered, worried chatter speaking her thoughts._

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the wait. There was a bit of a complete rewrite/revision session with this chapter. R&amp;R_


	5. V

V

* * *

"Luna," Serena started innocently, nonchalantly, as she chewed through the sugary and syrupy taste of blueberry pancakes in her mouth, "who is Prince Endymion?"

Her sole eating companion paused, her own forkful of food hanging in the space between her plate and her mouth. Silence fell between them, which was kinda weird. Luna usually answered her other questions about things and people without hesitation, but this one seemed to surprise her. "…Why do you ask?" the older woman asked slowly.

It had been a week since Serena had met him, the prince that wore black. The days following that time had passed in their usual way—lessons, meals, meetings, and whirlwind discussions about her expected appearance at Parliament, the first of many according to Diamond. She had seen plenty of the Moon royals since her debut, and the elders had even politely declined invitations for things like tea or early morning walks through the rose garden on her behalf, but she hadn't seen _him_ again. Which she figured was fine, but…

_"…Endymion…"_

His name. She'd known his name before it had been said, in a voice that was almost like hers but wasn't.

The strange part wasn't that she knew it. There were things she had just _known_ since that morning after the Coronation Announcement: the layout of the palace's royal quarters where she slept and ate, particularly the hallways with its hanging lotus flower-shaped chandeliers and wallpaper with repeated dark-yellow prints of blooming cherry blossom branches and perched waxwings, goldfinches, and swallows; the permeating scent of the rose garden throughout most of the royal grounds; the pattern of butterflies on the plates her food was served on; and even the best time to watch the sunset glisten off the the bridge connecting Neo-Tokyo and Juuban.

But…she hadn't remembered people—let alone _names_. Not Luna's or Artemis'…and the only reason why she knew Prince Diamond's was because of the coronation. But she had heard Prince Endymion's name like a thing she suddenly remembered from part of a dream…

And she felt like she _knew_ his face. Like, it didn't matter where or how big a crowd could be gathered around her, she would be able recognize him. Fine details about him: his light honey-bronze skin; the way the curve of his smile was higher on the right; the way his hair framed his deep blue eyes. His eyes were the thing that told her he was as ageless as the others; they looked older than the rest of him. And they were guarded and unwelcoming on purpose—like he felt like he needed to put a wall up…until he had started laughing, and then all of that went away…

Meeting him had been a good thing, and since that afternoon, she felt like a small part of her was waiting…_hoping_…for it to happen again.

The fingertips of her free hand were brushing against the spot where her crescent-moon mark lay again.

Luna was still waiting for her to say something, but she knew she couldn't explain it. Her hand fell. "…I just haven't seen him since that day, and I guess I thought that was kinda weird." She shrugged and looked down at her unfinished meal, poking at a mashed blueberry with the prongs of her fork.

The older raven-haired woman placed her own fork down and faced Serena with a pensive expression before answering. "Well…the reason why you have not seen the prince is because Prince Endymion," she hesitated for a brief moment, and her eyes trailed around the room to find the proper words to say, "is not exactly welcome among the Moon's royalty, most especially the elders." Luna picked up her cup of juice, but unlike all other times when she would take delicate sips, she drank long enough to make her head tilt back slightly.

The sixteen-year-old's forehead crinkled. She couldn't imagine the same royals who seemed to always want to be in her company treating an actual prince differently. "Why is that?" She placed her fork down; she didn't care about breakfast anymore.

Luna placed down her empty cup and a sigh left her lips. "…The other nobles have always treated the affairs of the Moon with the utmost confidentiality. The reason for that was to protect the Silver Millennium Crystal." She removed her cloth napkin from her lap.

_The Silver Millennium Crystal._ Of all the things she had learned, Serena now knew the name of the "great power" always referenced in her old Ancient Moon History textbooks. Since Aglecta's first frustrations about her lack of progress during her lessons and her dislike about what she called Serena's "fish-eyed" stare, she was now made to gaze at the ten-foot paintings of the queens and the princess. The Princess of the Moon was painted with her face tilted down slightly, eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. Her long, silvery hair and white dress floated around her as if she were caught in a gentle wind, and floating in the cradle of her hands was the crystal. To her, it looked like a cross between a diamond and an upside-down teardrop. Even though Aglecta never told her exactly what the crystal was capable of doing, looking at the way it illuminated the princess' peaceful face, she felt like she knew _why_ it was all those things Aglecta said it was: "the single-most important item in the universe;" "the birthright of the royal family;" and "the integral source of power for the Moon."

"The royal family came to be solely to protect the crystal," Luna continued. "Its existence and the power it gave to the queens of past are why the other nobles served the queen and princess, and why the elders continue to act in their place today." The dark-haired woman began to play with the edge of her tablecloth. "However, in the wake of the attack, protecting knowledge of the crystal has meant guarding or even erasing information available to those outside of the palace walls and even the kingdom. It is to keep us safe from vulnerability, but it has brought on a wariness towards those outside Moon's royalty—like the prince."

Serena absorbed this information. "Prince Endymion knows about the crystal's power and its disappearance?" She imagined his eyes and the years they held, the way they told of a life spanning years beyond how the rest of him looked. In fact, everyone had that look here… "He was here on the Moon the day of the attack…and the elders think he had something to do with it?"

Luna shook her head. "He would not have been allowed to stay if that was the case… They think his arrival and his being here all those years ago opened the Moon to attack from the outside," she sighed, "even after all this time…" She looked over at the girl. "I am uncertain if you will ever come to learn this, but Prince Endymion is the forger of the Orbital-Satellite Alliance. He created it and then revised it after the attack for the Moon's benefit."

Serena thought about everything she knew about the alliance from her classes back at school. "So…us depending on Earth isn't a bad thing?"

"No." She shook her head. "_No._ Artemis explains it better, but…it simply strengthens our own forces should anything like the attack happen again." Luna's gaze focused on a point far away before she began shaking her head ever so slowly to fight the memories away. "Although they do not like to admit it to themselves, our being so isolated has strained and even broken our relationships with the other planets. The prince and the Earth are our closest allies now…and even that has weakened over the decades.

"But, of _course_ the elders believe otherwise." Her expression suddenly became aggravated. "I have never understood how they think the alliance is _still_ some sort of century-long power play for the Moon. Ridiculous! Even after all this time… They would, they would believe the rising sun a conspirator if it did not signal the start of the day!"

Luna's hand suddenly flew up to her mouth and her brown eyes widened. The equally surprised teenager had the same expression on her face. It was the first time the older woman, who was normally calm and listened to what the elders had to say, had done the total opposite. And it was _definitely_ the first time anyone around her had spoken negatively about the elders themselves…

The older woman pushed back her chair and stood, straightening the bow of her yellow lace-and-chiffon dress. Her cheeks were turning a deep pink color. "Excuse me for my outburst; I spoke out of turn."

The teen realized that that was the most honest conversation she had had with someone since living in the palace—or maybe the first one since meeting Prince Endymion that day. And even though a great part of her was…hurt to know that he wasn't liked and the elders didn't trust him, she now knew the prince of Earth had created something meant to protect everyone. Her heart was…fluttering. Like it had had questions of its own and was reassured now that it knew some of the answers.

Serena had a million new questions now. Her hand pressed against her forehead. She felt a tingle where her mark was. "…You make it sound like the prince is really from the Moon."

"The prince is a good person and a good ally, and he is still…invested in the Moon and its well-being. I truly believe none of us today can say we care about all the things that would have concerned the princess more than him. It was good that Diamond pushed for the alliance to continue and for him to stay…I have always believed it is the greatest sign of the friendship they shared from when Endymion first arrived."

At that, Luna abruptly paused, like something that she said hadn't sounded quite right. Serena watched as her face soured and a frown froze on her face. Before she could ask what was wrong, she started blinking and took in a deep breath, as if waking up from a stupor. "Make sure you finish your breakfast. You have a big day ahead of you…"

* * *

It was nightfall when Prince Endymion chose to venture inside the palace. He preferred the freedom night gave: the dimmed chandeliers overhead and quiet shadows that fell and stretched across the palace's walls and hallways; the simple glances from the soldiers that stood on either side of the doors where the royals continued their leisure in the drawing rooms and suites of the most popular or festive in their ranks.

He reached his destination, a door cleverly designed in the manner of the palace walls and flanked by two guards that stood at its either side. He glanced at the adjacent staircase that led to the gallery of suites where the elders dwelled before giving the briefest of nods in acknowledgement towards the sentries. "I am expected."

The guards gave their requisite greeting, and one pushed against the door until it gave. "Please enter, Your Royal Highness."

He did so. The short corridor he stepped into had a color scheme of black paint and thin gold trim. He walked the few steps through it, ignoring his image in the mirrors that hung on the walls at both sides until he entered a drawing room of the same design, save for three tall windows across him. Despite the roaring flames in the fireplace, he felt a light breeze of cold air and saw the fringe of a curtain flutter with the wind. He deigned to open his suit jacket, only stared at the ornate vases and statues in the room…and the image of himself and the room's layout in the large mirror placed over the fireplace.

Diamond's footsteps from an adjacent hallway announced his presence. "Endymion, my friend." The greeting came with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Come sit. Join me."

Endymion offered a smile at his friend's exuberance. Diamond walked towards the center of the room where two plush white leather couches faced one another in front of the fireplace. In between was a small table covered in a white tablecloth where a nearly uncorked bottle of Sauvignon Blanc stood in a bucket of ice surrounded by three wine glasses and a few dishes of food. He settled onto the couch across from his host, but did not recline in the same carefree manner. He eyed the cut of the white suit and the accompanying shirt, tie, slacks, and shoes the Moon-born royal wore. "Did you just return from the Parliament building?"

"Yes, just got back from the docks when you arrived. It was the day for introductions to be made with the members of Parliament." He smirked at something, some memory that had crossed his mind. His fingers loosened his tie and its bits of gold thread caught the light.

The Earth-born prince unbuttoned the last button of his suit jacket for comfort. "You mean the Moon's politicians actually took time away from the last few days of their sanctioned recess to attend a luncheon at Parliament?"

"No criticisms, Endymion, please. And no talk of politics—I'm not Artemis, you know." Diamond reached over and fully removed the cork from the bottle, the brief sound a _pop_ punctuating the air. The wine was poured in silence, and when the task was finished, he leaned into the couch again, stretching his unoccupied arm across its back and laying his right ankle over his left knee. "…Well, what has happened to warrant a late night visit?"

Endymion leaned forward to grab his own glass, but did not immediately drink it. "I came to talk to you about…Serena."

A brief moment of confusion crossed Diamond's face, as if he did not know who they were referring to. "What about her?"

He took a sip of his drink. "Luna has given me a thorough account of her lessons with Aglecta, and what little Luna has not shared, I have overheard from my assigned servers."

"Mmmm. The gossiping dinner maids." Diamond joked, breezily using a term Endymion himself had created once long ago.

"From what I hear, there is some merit to the rumors: the tirades and insults. …We are both aware of Aglecta's temperament; we have certainly experienced it firsthand."

"You a bit more than myself, of course." Diamond joked and swished his drink in its glass. "…I know it is believed that the elder's esteem for me is high—and I shall refrain from arguing against it with you." He sipped his wine, but stared at Endymion over its brim. "…Has Luna expressed serious concerns to you?"

"No, but I have some of my own." He drank a bit more.

Diamond considered the words. "_You_ have serious concerns about the girl."

"Am I not allowed?"

"Of course! Certainly! But," the Moon-born prince leaned forward and scooped up a handful of nuts from one of the dishes, "this is _so_ different from the beginning when she arrived. After all, you were the one to remind me of the girl is not."

"The circumstances are not like what they were initially. If Aglecta's intention is to use the girl to find the crystal, then a less harsh method may yield better results. Of course, she is incapable of realizing that—or chooses not to—and I would never be able to make the suggestion to her directly. Which is why you should be the one to speak to her."

"…You are suggesting that _I_ speak to Aglecta about her behavior towards the girl, Serena, on _your_ behalf…?" The Moon-born prince leaned back once more and ran a hand through his white hair. "Many thoughts have been put into this. And what, of all the things heard from unnamed sources, has brought on this…show of concern?" He took another sip from his glass, his expression tight around the eyes.

Endymion heard sarcasm in his friend's voice and sensed a change in the air. He drank more of his own wine and let the taste of the semi-sweet liquid fill his mouth to keep him from answering. He felt that in that moment it was better to not be so forthcoming; to not say that Serena herself was the source of the conversation.

Since the moment he had met her that afternoon, he had…the thought of her and their conversation had crossed his mind often. Maybe because it had been new, maybe it was it had been unexpected… The look of her tearful eyes in his memory seemed to jar him. He knew whose eyes they reminded him of, but…the way she sat alone with the fountain of koi fish for company…so unlike Serenity, even in her sad moments—so much more like _him_, like how his life had been for the century spent behind these walls…

"No one deserves abuse from Aglecta. If I were capable of saying those words to her, I would."

"…Of course…"

They fell to a thick silence once more. Endymion felt the tension within himself and saw the mirror of it in Diamond's expression as well.

The hallway door opened and the approaching sounds of a guard's footsteps came down the corridor. Neither man dropped his gaze from the other.

"Your Highness."

Diamond's purple eyes broke their staring contest in their shift towards the guard. "Yes, of course. Thank you. Please escort Prince Endymion back." He stood and straightened his tie. "I will consider what we said, and see if I can speak to Aglecta the next time she is available and inviting for a word."

Endymion stood and relaxed as if a spar had reached its end. Part of him felt caught between wanting to continue the conversation to turn it to something positive. It was…wrong to end on such a sour note. The Moon-born royal was his friend.

Diamond's eyes lacked the mirth they had held at his arrival. "You may want to leave to avoid being seen."

"…Of course. Good night."

"Sleep well, my friend." Prince Diamond said, but it lacked the airy quality his parting words usually held.

Their handshake was firm, not friendly.

Endymion's trek back into the corridor was a short, conflicting one. He reached outside the Moon royal's quarters and with a brief nod towards the guards, started on his path back to his suite once more. He thought back on where he had just been and the heavy tension between he and the other royal. _Has that ever happened before?_

A cadence of footsteps interrupted his thoughts and made him stop in his tracks: the heavy boots of the guards across the marble floor accompanied by the staccato of heels.

On impulse, he turned again and walked towards the end of the hallway. As if pulled by a sort of curiosity he had not possessed since he was a child, he pressed his back against the wall's moldings and paintings, and looked over its corner.

There stood Aglecta flanked by two guards, dressed in a long-sleeved frock of some kind with stud embellishments and sky-high heels. Her gaze remained straightforward and she made no effort to bother looking around her. The guards outside Diamond's door let her in without so much a question—

_He was watching as Serenity stared at the group of royals that mingled around the drawing room, dressed in the palace's equivalent of casual: cocktail dresses and stocking feet for the women; pajamas for the children; and dress shirts sans suit jackets for the men. All were murmuring quietly among themselves or listening to the harpist and violinist that played in the center of the room. Her attention went back to her lap, to the book he had given her, her cup of hot chocolate momentarily neglected. The skirt of the white lace dress she wore fell across his knee. _

—_There, in a nearly isolated corner, were Aglecta and Diamond sitting together and talking_—

_"…Aglecta rarely ever joins us, and she never speaks to anyone else…" She turned her glance to over her shoulder towards her senshi. They, too, seemed taken aback at the sight them both: Mercury's blinking eyes; Mars' raised eyebrow; and save for Venus' tilted head, she and Jupiter shared the same pose with their crossed arms and suspicious stare—_

Endymion suddenly felt like he was emerging from a pool of water.

He felt—

_Almost as if his glance had been physically felt from across the room, Diamond pulled his attention away from the elder and towards him._

_As they stared at one another, Diamond's expression hardened: a furrowed brow, a firm mouth, and eyes that solely spoke of contempt and hatred._

_Endymion's glance became the same_—

Again, he gasped for air. He was practically sitting on the floor; his head throbbed and the hallway was spinning. This time he looked about him to see if there was anyone who had come upon him, but he was alone—not even the guards outside Diamond's door had grown suspicious or heard a sound. He pressed his hand across his hairline and felt sweat gathering and trickling down his forehead, but nothing strange was triggered: no images of past, of _the_ past he…felt he knew…

He slowly brought himself up to stand and touched the wall to steady himself. "…What _was_ that…?"

* * *

_**A/N: **__I had wanted a stronger conversation between Luna and Serena in the last chapter, but what I had written was so…weak. It was part of the reason why I re-wrote chapter "IV." Anyways...This was so much stronger than what I had previously; I was able to give Luna more spice, which was really satisfying. Same goes for the conversation with Diamond and Endymion._

_Thanks so much for the feedback from the other chapters. R&amp;R_

_(Poor Artemis! Present in spirit, never in body…)_


	6. VI

Glossary

Pauldron: part of a suit of armor; covers the shoulders

Fauld: located below the breastplate, it protects the lower abdominal area

_(Source: Google/Wikipedia; Google Images)_

* * *

VI

* * *

_Serenity gently placed her hand on her mother's cloaked shoulder. "How do you feel?"_

_The queen looked upon her daughter and gave her a tired but gentle smile. Her hand, the one that did not grasp her staff, freed itself from the folds of the thick white cape she wore and clasped her daughter's. "I am fine, my love." The matriarch casted her pretty, matronly stare over the throne room once more. Below them, on either side of a plush white carpet, stood the other Moon nobles behind the arrangement of soldiers and trumpeters. All were dressed in white, and their whispers were in anticipation of the awaiting procession. Queen Serenity's eyes did not deign to make contact with the worrisome elders, but rather at the white walls and pillars, marble busts, and the gold-framed, colorful portraits of past rulers that led to the platform where they stood above all. "Are you nervous about what you have been asked to do?" _

_Serenity looked upon the crown that sat on her mother's head, the platinum-and-bejeweled ornament and its diamond-encrusted image of the upturned moon crescent. Luna, her mother's most favorite handmaiden, had styled her buns to appear smaller that morning to accommodate the crown's size. She loved the way her mother's silver hair fell down in loose waves._

_The princess gave a smile she knew was shaky and unsure. "I believe so." _

_"I _kno_w__ you are," her mother's fingers brushed her hair away from her birthmark and readjusted her own seldom-worn crown with its gold-plated crescent and leaf-and-rose-shaped moldings, "and you will do magnificently." _

_The queen pulled away suddenly. Her chest contracted for a moment, and her hand covered her mouth. Serenity waited for the familiar sounds of coughing…or the more familiar sight of her trying not to do so. __Despite the physicians' declaration of her becoming well with time, her recovery had been slow. She had remained bedridden for weeks and it had taken time for the color in her cheeks to return. Of course her enervated condition had not deterred the elders from appearing and requesting private audience through Artemis, Luna's husband and her mother's personal scribe, or when refused, correspondences signed by her hand. _

_Serenity's fears never alleviated, but she held her tongue; it was not her place to criticize her mother's advisors._

_Although still not fully well, the queen had insisted that enough of her strength had returned in time for this event: the arrival of delegates from Earth for what was being called the Satellite-Orbital Alliance talks, the first of its kind between the Moon and the mysterious, self-isolated blue planet that peeked above the rose garden._

_And Serenity had volunteered to have an important role in this encounter: to stand and address the visitors on her mother's behalf. _

_There were so many things she had heard of the Earth's people through her lessons as of late: it was a land of feudal kingdoms and oligarchies; the multifaceted appearances, landmarks, and customs of those lands varied between very old or very young; different ideals ruled the land and they motivated people in individual ways_—_even children could achieve their self-realized goals._

_Serenity was unsure of what to expect; Earth was beyond her comprehension: opposite and enigmatic and __inspiring__. Surely its people were the same… _

_What if she did something wrong? Or said the wrong thing? What if—_

_The touch of her mother's hand broke her thoughts. "Prepare yourself, my love; they have arrived." And as if to prove her mother right, the sound of the trumpeters resounded in the palace. The nobles began to silence themselves, assuming the roles of living statues; the soldiers raised and crossed their swords, and the musicians prepared themselves for their cue. _

_She stepped away from her mother, clasping her hands together. A smile graced her lips as she found her senshi in the crowd, all dressed in white for the occasion with bright smiles, nods of approval, and a wink of luck from Jupiter. _

_She drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves._

_The people they had been waiting for stepped into the room, the would-be sounds of their shoes absorbed into the thick, plush carpet and drowned by the sounds of the instruments. They __were__ different and mysterious; no one person looked too alike to the others. And they had adorned themselves in outfits with fabrics that showed intricate designs she had never seen before and__…__color. Bright, bold, unhindered color that at that moment, she wished she herself could wear… _

_Some of them stared in awe at the room's magnitude, at the sweeping arcs the crossed swords made as they were separated. However, four of them, dressed alike in gray uniforms with various adornments and badges, stared straightforward as if unbothered by the crowd and unimpressed by the splendor around them._

_And led by them all was the prince of Earth. _

_He…_

_He__ was tall and youthful-looking, somewhat older than herself, but younger than his companions. His cloak was black but lined with red velvet. His suit of armor was also black, and embellished with a silver pauldron and matching fauld that held moldings of a snarling wolf poised for attack…a sheathed sword hung at his left side. He wore a crown, wrought with gold and adorned with dark stones; it made the fringe of his thick black hair brush against his eyebrows. His nose was aristocratic, his lips full, and his skin healthy from days spent in the sun._

_And then there were his eyes, as blue as the waters of the planet from which he came…_

_She felt her heart skip a beat and butterflies flutter in her stomach._

_He and his envoy reached the foot of the platform. And while the men knelt behind him, he hesitated and then came to the decision not to move. His eyes never broke their gaze towards her. _

_The trumpeting stopped and all was still…except her heart, for now it was__ beating in a way it never had before.__Without thinking, she started to step down from the platform's stairs. Again and again, until she stood on equal ground with him. She simply_…_stared; and he stared at her with wonder._

_Was it the same for him? Did he see her, her white dress with the gold thread and pearl-embroidered bodice, her crown? Or could he see __her__? Did he feel…drawn to her, swept up by her? Hot and nervous and excited too?_

_The silence in the crowd was slowly giving its way to concern, but it was the sound of her mother's throat clearing that finally animated her. She bowed and straightened up once more, her face burning with embarrassment. "I am…I am…Princess Serenity. I stand as the daughter of Her Royal Majesty Queen Serenity I, the sole sovereign of the Moon Kingdom's Silver Millennium and blessed guardian of the Silver Millennium Crystal." She sighed in relief that she had said her introduction correctly. "Welcome."_

_He bowed. "…I am Prince Endymion, heir and the future ruler and protector of the planet_ _Earth." His voice was deep and rich. She could have listened to it for hours. "I stand for its royal family and for its people, wide and varied they are. I thank you and the people of the Moon for your hospitality and hope that this delegation brings about a stronger unity of our two worlds." _

_And then he smiled at her, the right side of his mouth curving higher than the left. _

_She could not break her gaze away from him, even as the other delegates introduced themselves, their voices echoing off the walls._

_"…I hope so as well,_ _Prince Endymion," she whispered._

_She hoped he had heard her._

* * *

_'It is the concern of the representatives of Parliament, speakers for the people of the Moon Kingdom in this year of its Restoration, to address the matter involving the ascension of its citizen Serena Tsukino—'_

Serena looked up from the paper in her hands and into the eyes the elders of the Moon and Prince Diamond. They had all been sitting in the leather chairs and waiting for her to enter the private room for her lessons, and now, after reading the letter and seeing their eyes trained on her, she felt it was like an interrogation.

The young girl let her eyes fall back to the letter. "What does this…_mean_?"

"What it means is," Diamond started from his place on her left, overlooking the words on the page."the validity of who you as the princess is being questioned as suspicious by Parliament."

Her brow furrowed. "But—_why?_ _How?!_" It had only been a few days since that morning they had all visited that grand, aged building. She had spent the entire day in the white clothing Luna had picked out that morning and standing by Diamond's side, chatting with those politicians and eating at the luncheon held in her honor. She couldn't wrap her mind on how so many of them could write and sign something like this. She scanned it once more. "What…what do they mean by my lineage?"

The elders looked at one another, but Diamond spoke again. "In the immediate events after the coronation, we sent a formal request to the Office of Public Records to investigate your genealogy. We thought of it as a way to better understand your sudden…emergence."

"Please understand why you were not told," one particularly bulbous and red-cheeked elder said. "Everything that happened…what you _did_…was so sudden!"

"Yes: the intention was simply to investigate the bloodlines of your parents to better form an understanding for the reasons behind your appearance. The results arrived the evening of your visit to Parliament."

Serena's hand rested in her lap and gripped the letter. "What were the results?"

"…The office determined your parents' ancestors are decidedly Moon-born, but specific results were inconclusive. Both branches of your family's tree predates the creation of the office itself; some individuals remain unidentified. And while the Moon's royalty is eons old, there is no retained documentation that showcases validity or falsehood."

"I hope you can understand what this means," Aglecta said from her seat. She was dressed in a collared sheath dress and her face was ghastly with her dark makeup. "Because we are unsure of any trace of royal blood, Parliament now believes that your ascension is no longer the sole concern of the palace, but _theirs_ as well."

"As if they have the right," another elder groused to a chorus of agreeing, disgruntled murmurs.

"In _any_ case," Aglecta continued over the din, annoyed that she was being interrupted even as the others agreed with her, "it is now believed that _we_ are trying to influence politics by seating a _child_ on the throne."

"It is such an _insult_!"…"It's as if they forget that _we_ allowed for their formulation."…"What do you expect? Their leaders have changed so much over the last century. Personally, I had more respect for—"

"Apologies for my intrusion," a voice suddenly rang out. Serena's head turned to stare at its source: Luna. Her handmaiden had stepped away from her place along the stark-white wall and was now inching her way closer to the table. The elders looked either astounded or appalled, like they had forgotten she was there or had never seen her before. "But when the request was sent, we made it clear that the results were to remain confidential. Is there any indication as to how the results were given to Parliament's members?" Seeing no interruptions, she continued. "It is not like Parliament to question us or the decisions involving the royal family. And our influence on their policies are minimal and indirect at best. For a document to directly address the Moon palace and yourselves in regard to this matter… Why would they feel it be necessary—"

"You forget yourself and your place, Luna! Have you lost the ability to hold your tongue?" Aglecta asked. "It is arduous enough to handle this matter, but who are you to bring yourself into this conversation? Have you, in your speculations, even considered the ramifications that would take place if we pushed the matter? That doing so may cause a rift with Parliament?! That though we carry on the legacy of the royal family, it would be foolish to be combatant!" The last words the elder of the Moon yelled bounced against the walls.

Diamond walked the few steps towards the woman and bent towards her ear to whisper, but Serena still heard him say, "…it may be best if you exit the room."

Luna nodded her head. "…I…offer my sincerest apologies, esteemed elders…Your Royal Highness. Excuse me." The raven-haired woman's heels clicked across the marble floor and Serena heard the door be opened and shut once more.

Silence settled in the room, and once again, the interrogation refocused on the teenager.

"Please," Diamond urged, "finish reading."

Serena read the rest of the legal jargon twice before coming up for air. Her gaze focused on the elderly faces before her. "They want me to prove myself…"

"I cannot say that is their intent with certainty. …If I may be so bold," he addressed the other occupants, "it may be best to be proactive in certain capacities, particularly in the opportunity they are creating in requests for our most well-kept documents. I do not think it would be wise for them to learn more information about the crystal."

Everyone nodded their heads.

Aglecta puffed up once more, "And to continue in your grooming, you will be meeting with me more frequently for our—"

"I beg your pardon wholeheartedly," Diamond interrupted, raising his hand to give the woman pause, "but it is important to convene more formally to address the letter and form the language of the response. This is my opinion, but I believe that due to this matter, it is best to limit the lessons to every other day for the moment."

Aglecta rose out of her chair. "The whole reason this proposal has come into being is based on the power this girl exhibited—power unwitnessed from her since! Do you think if she showed that power, or the crystal itself, Parliament would even _think_—"

"We ourselves know of her power, and although they pretend, Parliament is aware of it as well. In our specific role, it is important to remember that our priorities may shift at any time. And for now," Diamond's voice momentarily hardened, "our priority should be to address these dissenters. Surely, given the importance of this matter, you can agree." Diamond's purple eyes met the elder's and held their beady gaze.

Silence fell on the meeting room for a second time as many of the elders' jaws dropped in surprise. Even Serena looked on nervously. Aglecta was definitely going to be mad.

"…I move this meeting be adjourned." Without waiting for additional consent, she made the move herself; her heels practically stomped cracks in the floor as she left.

One by one, like ducklings trailing after their mother, the others did the same.

Now it was just the prince and Serena.

Diamond sighed. For the first time since he had entered the room, he moved from the teenager's side and sat at the edge of the table, facing her. He took his time opening the buttons of his suit jacket and taking off his cufflinks. They made clattering sounds upon resting on the table.

His purple eyes gazed at her. "…Are you worried?" He asked softly.

Her eyes traveled back to the paper that sat in her lap. She only shrugged in response.

The royal gently freed the letter from her grasp and placed it on the table. He leaned forward and smiled. "There should be no doubts about you, who you are, and the power you possess. But what you are capable of and have shown has not been seen in a long time; it may be natural for there to be doubters from the outside… Just know that I believe in you."

"…Thank you…"

She watched as the prince reached forward and clasped her hand—

A strange shock, like a jolt of electricity, passed through their touch. Serena jumped back at the stinging feeling, the legs of her chair scraping the floor. Her head throbbed harder than it ever had. Her eyes clenched tight and the hand that did not press against her forehead pushed against the air between them, like she was defending herself from attack. Her eyes grew wide; her fingertips felt numb.

Diamond's eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes looked angry. He delicately touched his skin. And then he stood, standing over her as he straightened his suit. "I will leave you to your thoughts now." He placed his numb hand over his heart and then swiftly stepped away.

And then there was only her. Sitting under the peaceful image of Princess Serenity, forever the pillar of strength…without a care in the world…

* * *

_"I believe you have proven yourself well in the esteemed elders' opinion, Your Royal Highness."_

_The princess startled at the smooth and cool voice in her ear; she almost made Mercury spill her drink. Whirling around to find its source, she came face-to-face with Diamond. _

_He placed his hand over his chest and bowed his head. "My apologies, princess. I did not mean to startle you."_

_She stepped back to more fully face him. "I take no offense. I may still be excited from the introductions." Of course, right after Aglecta reveled in her opportunity to be in the spotlight and pretended to be friendly and genuine with her words of welcome and the evening opened to more relaxed conversations, Serenity had stayed to watch the guards help her mother. The queen was to return to her bedroom for rest, but encouraged her daughter to go into the crowd and meet the delegates. And the princess had tried to do so, greatly pulled by the need to see him, to hear his voice once more… _

_She had found Mercury instead and had been spotted by Diamond in turn._

_Silence fell between the three. The longer the nobleman stood before them in that suit of his that was unlike the others' with its distinctive designs along its lapels, the more she realized that he had been more visible as of late. From the position of his seat during dinners in the banquet hall, to her walks about the palace grounds, to even moments of leisure in the drawing room, Diamond had been everyw—_

_"It is wonderful to see that Her Royal Majesty is recovering well." _

_"Yes," Mercury said._

_"Yes," Serenity agreed stiffly. "Thank you."_

_"I am especially happy to have seen her on the throne. It was a wonderful ceremony with her presence…To be frank, I am surprised that the prince was so articulate in his introduction."_

_"Oh?" Her senshi asked. _

_"Yes. Historically, we of the Moon have had few encounters with Earth's people, but my wait staff is full of tales about them. Their history is not as peaceful as it has been of late."_

_"I would say that that is nothing too unheard of… All planets have experienced war at one time or another. I know my own planet has." Mercury placed her empty glass unto an awaiting servant's tray. _

_"Yes, but with the many varied people on that planet, Earth's conflicts occur at a higher, more frequent rate. It is almost incomparable to your planet's number or even the conflicts we of the Moon have experienced—at least our people learned how to resolve issues quickly and diplomatically. From what I have heard, it seems those of Earth almost relish in the idea of conflict itself. It is almost barbaric."_

_The princess found that she could no longer remain silent. "It may be true they have experienced great strife amongst themselves, but no one relishes in conflict or war. The prince, the people of Earth…I think their being here proves that they desire peace and understanding as we do ourselves. It's admirable that they have found common ground with one another. We should not pretend to be so judgmental of that fact, especially given our history you speak of."_

_There were suddenly excited, surprised whispers all about her. Her pale blue eyes shifted in a million directions and it dawned on her that she had not been as quiet as she thought. __And as if The Fates knew of her greatest desire, she suddenly realized that among her listeners was the prince himself looking upon her with his blue eyes._

_She turned back to her verbal adversary with pink cheeks._

_Diamond placed his hand over his heart and bowed to her, a simple gesture as always, but she could see his expression had stiffened. "My apologizes to you, Your Royal Highness. I did not mean to upset you and ask for your __forgiveness if my words caused__…__offense on this night. __Excuse me."_

_Both she and Mercury watched him leave. _

_"…Princess," Serenity looked at the bewildered face of her close friend and guardian, "you have never addressed any of the other royals in that way. Ever."_

_"I know…I just…I was__ just__… __He is—the Prince of Earth is, he is a good person."_

_"You have only just seen and briefly spoken to the prince." Mercury's words were gentle as always, but showed that she did not understand the princess' behavior or reasoning. "You cannot truly be sure of his inner nature from one ecounter."_

_"I know." But as she watched him walk towards her and felt her heart speed up, she knew that she had never been so sure of anything in her life._

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Sorry for the hiatus. _

_So, this is the second instance of the romance between Serenity and Endymion being told from the former's perspective. It's also the first time that amongst all the other dynamics in the story, both Serenity and Serena have had personal encounters with Prince Diamond. Not only that, but one of the senshi spoke! Mercury ftw! _

_R&amp;R _


	7. VII

Glossary

kangura battlements; drum; finial: all architetural terms specific to the Indo-Saracenic Revival/Indo-Gothic style. The most famous example of this style is the Taj Mahal.

_(Source: Wikipedia/Google) _

* * *

VII

* * *

Endymion had not forgotten what he had seen that night. And in the days afterwards, as news of Parliament's edict spread throughout all corners of the palace, he found himself replaying the scene in his mind over and over again.

_How could I have forgotten it?_ Was the first question that came to mind, and one he constantly asked himself.

That evening so long ago had been maybe one of the last peaceful times before the queen's health had turned for the worst. Him giving Serenity that book was real; the smile she had given him, the way her hair had fallen on her shoulders, and the way the apples of her cheeks had flushed—all of those things were real.

_How could I have let it slip from my memory? _

_Why am I only remembering it now?_

The more he thought about it, the sights and sounds and the sequence of it, the more he found himself coming back to two things:

Diamond. The image of Diamond from that night, most especially the moment when the royal's head turned to face him. Dressed in his one of his many white suits, reclining on the couch with his drink of red wine swirling in its glass, the full image of his seething expression always held for a second, and then his face—his nose and mouth—would become…_warped_. Scratched out. Distorted. As if the image itself was actively and purposely erasing itself from his consciousness.

Except for the royal's eyes. They remained the same.

And his own feeling of deep-seated dislike of Diamond—_that_ stayed in Endymion's memory as well.

_But __why__?_

The question of _Why? _only seemed to cause physical pain whenever he focused on trying to find an answer. If he dwelled too long or fought against the alteration, a headache unlike any he had ever experienced started. And it grew and intensified the more he pressed for answers as to _why_ he would feel this way towards his…friend.

_Yes,_ a part of him always assured him,_ your friend. _

…It did not help that the Earth-born prince had not laid eyes on the man in question in the wake of Parliament's edict…

And he kept coming back to Serenity.

_Serenity…_ He did not experience the same feelings of pain and misgiving whenever he saw her in his memory. No, with her_…_it was a warmth. An intense _glow_ that radiated and spread within him, so different from the idea of longing. The more he reflected on the memory and the need for answers reflected in her pale blue eyes, the stronger he felt that same desire within him. …The cadence of his heartbeat pulsed with a sense of warning and urgency until he felt he would split open from the sensation.

He sought refuse outside.

The night's cool breeze, the gentle shaking of tree leaves, and the music of crickets greeted him like old friends. The surrounding world at this time of night was still and silent. The smaller palaces of the Moon's elders all had darkened windows; there were no occupants in any of the gazebos or benches around him, and no patrolling guards in his immediate view. His only companion seemed to be the palace itself, the chandeliers he saw through windows dimly illuminated. It was difficult to pull his eyes away from the pearl-white and pale gold structure with the etched carvings of kangura battlements along its drum, and lotus carvings atop the domed roofs. For a moment, his gaze lingered at its highest peak, where the crescent-moon insignia stood atop its finial and glittered in the clouded sky.

He continued on and did not think twice as he stepped off the walkway and unto the meticulously cut, dew-sprinkled lawns.

The wind grew fierce around him as he stopped at the threshold he had unconsciously sought: the rose garden. Serenity's favorite place on the royal grounds. He stepped unto the wooden planks that laid out the safe path for walking. He stared down at pale yellow and white roses before him and the tiny lights that lined the planks' either side and gave the bare minimum of sight. Above him were the sky and the stars and blue-marbled Earth peeking from along the horizon of the northern wall.

"I feel like I am at war with myself," he murmured aloud.

Something within him told him he needed to _understand._ He wished he could.

There was movement behind him. Feeling himself snatched outside of his thoughts, unwilling to be intruded upon at such a moment, Endymion turned.

And there, standing before him against the backdrop of the Moon Palace, panting for breath, and dressed in a long, white silk robe with a multitude of small hair bows in her pigtails…

Serena.

The crazy, mixed up feelings within him seemed to driven away by the sight of her. "…What are you doing here?" He asked softly.

* * *

"I couldn't fall back sleep," was the first answer to pop into her head. It wasn't a lie—over the past few weeks, Serena just kept waking up in the middle of the night with her fingers rubbing small, comforting circles around the mark on her forehead. It was just that this time, she hadn't been able to lie in bed and count the number of printed butterflies fluttering around the camilla flowers on her bedroom wallpaper until she felt sleepy again. She had stepped out unto her bedroom's balcony, feeling the breeze blow about her and the cold marble under her bare feet. First, she leaned on the railing and stared out at the bit of the Earth she could see, like how she used to look at the Moon Palace from the bridge. And when she got tired of standing, she sat and let her feet dangle between the rails. Her thoughts had wandered, and then they had started to focus on Prince Endymion. And she had just decided that she couldn't keep thinking about him and needed to go back to bed and force herself to sleep when she noticed him walking towards the back of the grounds.

She had scrambled to her feet; found her favorite bathroom robe with its pattern of brightly colored birds to wear over her thin cotton nightgown, and her slippers; and followed the path he traveled.

Now here she was.

Prince Endymion relaxed. "Nor can I." He extended an arm to gesture to the spot beside him. "Please join me."

She did, tried to keep her head facing forward, and failed each time she watched him from the corner of her eye. He wasn't wearing his suit jacket, and his hands were stuffed in his pants pockets. His gaze was solemn and focused. The wind ruffled his hair and the sleeves of his white dress shirt and carried the faint smell of his cologne.

She sighed loudly.

He looked over at her. "Is something troubling you?"

"…I feel like I'm just…doing something wrong."

He considered her words. "How so?" He leaned forward slightly. "In what way?"

She was turning red at the cheeks. Her eyes didn't meet his, but she shook her head and shrugged.

Everything had changed in the last few days.

Since Parliament's letter, she had spent days sitting in the "secret meetings" the elders had decided to have. Just…sitting and listening to some of them say things here and there and Aglecta argue for or against the general consensus while the ones that only cared about the arrival of meals agreed or just didn't argue back.

Aglecta herself had become more critical during her instruction, not even bothering to hide that she was taking her frustrations out on her. The way Serena held out her arm was wrong: she was to relax her hand. Why would she close her eyes when she needed to concentrate her power in her hands? She breathed too deeply; she was breathing too quickly. What she was doing was not so difficult; a child could do this if it willed itself hard enough!

The one time she had felt like she was doing everything right—perfect posture, breathing, and a relaxed gaze on the very center of her palm—and she thought she could feel _something_, a headache suddenly came to her. Finally frustrated at the teenager's "antics," the elder ended the lesson early, quipping, _"Here you are. A girl who looks like the princess, acts like the princess, who sounds like her and has led us to believe you hold the same power as her. But you fail in the one thing we need you to do. To find us the one thing the Moon Kingdom needs even more than its royal family._

_"From the information we gathered about you, you have proved to be exactly as you appear. An average girl whose capabilities were no more than a fluke we must now live with."_

Serena had sat there, staring at nothing until Luna had arrived.

…She still felt bad for not sticking up for Luna when Aglecta had yelled at her. Even still, the dark-haired woman was still her greatest companion and always seemed to have a way of making her feel better until her headaches went away. She wished she could say sorry, but didn't know how the words would sound after she had waited for so long.

And Prince Diamond was the biggest change of all.

Since that day in the meeting room, she felt that there was something different about him. Like a crack in a mask. He never offered any input during the elder's meetings or spoke to her directly anymore, but at times, she caught him _looking_ at her from his favorite spot along the wall. He always caressed his hand. It was weird in a way she couldn't explain. But it had been his idea that she begin to take her dinners in the banquet hall to stop the gossip. And despite his cold treatment, he sat beside her during the meal where the nobles looked up from their plates, glanced over at her, and whispered behind their forks and hands.

"I just feel like…there's something I'm not doing. I was," she paused to truly consider her words, "I did what I did the night of the Coronation Announcement because…something bad would've happened if I didn't. And I don't know how I did it.

"The whole reason I'm here is because I'm Princess Serenity. I don't need anyone to tell me that; I know it's true. And, and, and I should be able to _do_ the things she'd be able to do: the things I'm expected to do. But I don't know what those things are exactly. And even though everyone here loves her, no one ever _talks_ about how she was or how she would do things…"

Her thoughts trailed. She wrapped her arms around her as the wind swirled upset the hem of her robe. She searched the Earth-born prince's face for his reaction.

The prince didn't speak for several moments. "I know that amongst the Moon's people, Princess Serenity is treated as a decisive leader—and her sacrificing her life for the good of the Moon's people _was_ decisive. She had the potential to be strong, but she was treated much like you are now by the elders of the Moon. The only decision she was ever able to make on her own was to save the kingdom.

"You are not Princess Serenity." His tone was gentle. Like it was okay. "But I believe that your desire to keep people safe from harm and be strong for them matches with her own. And it is useful. It will enable you to make decisions in the kingdom's best interest, and over time, the elders will recognize that within you."

His words made her feel better. "…What was she like? The princess?"

"She was…" he smiled gently, "well-loved. And well-protected by her mother and her senshi. Her soldiers. She loved to laugh and smile and be outside. She loved color."

"Color?"

"There were times when she felt the colors of the Moon were too…muted. She would see the Earth like this," he pointed to the planet peeking over the palace's wall, "and say that she liked how bright it was…"

Serena looked down at her robe again, seeing the oranges and gold and bright blue colors of the birds. And then she stared at the roses… Her mind wandered with images of the princess doing the things she did like daydreaming in class or playing video games at Game Crown. "I think I would have liked her."

The prince smiled at her, and she felt a sort of heat in her chest at the soft look on his face. _I wish he would kiss me._

She blushed at the thought.

They fell to silence and she stared at her slippers until she almost bore a hole in them. "Can we—_I_ stay out here a little while longer and just…walk around?"

He smiled once more. "Of course. I'll stay here and watch."

"Thank you, Prince Endymion."

"Endymion." He corrected her.

"…Endymion…"

Feeling happy under the protection of the Earth and its prince, she started down the path. She breathed in the smell of the roses and childishly kicked up her nightgown. She reached an intersection and, on impulse, started down another walkway. And then she was walking farther and faster, and then sort of running. And then…just feeling a little like she was just regular Serena Tsukino from Juuban, Neo-Tokyo.

* * *

He had insisted on escorting her back, but she hadn't recognized the place they had entered the palace from. It was the shape of a backwards "L,"and the path in front of her, the longer section, just seemed to be a hallway leading to nowhere. The walls on its either side didn't look _old_ exactly, but they were aged: the chandeliers a little different from all the others in the palace…she had a feeling like no one had been down here in a long time.

"Can you remember your way back from here?" Endymion whispered.

She shook her head at what stood before her. "The elders never showed me this place before… Where are we?"

Endymion looked at their surroundings, but didn't pay attention to the hallway before him, just the one to his left. He crouched down and took off his shoes, holding them in one hand. He stepped towards the left hallway, his free hand gripping the wall. He looked like he was little kid trying to sneak back home after curfew. He looked at her and beckoned with a little movement of his head. "Come along this wall."

Serena followed his example, taking off her slippers and doing a half-tiptoe/hop to catch up.

He grinned at her antics. "You look like a rabbit."

She giggled.

"I believe going down this way will take us to the grand ballroom. You will be fine to reach your quarters from there; after all, you seem to be good at avoiding guards when need be," he joked. "No one will know you're missing." He started down.

Serena made the steps to follow, but then she had heard a noise…

…Pulling her gaze away from Endymion, she turned around.

She looked at the wall's moldings and carvings, gazed up at the chandeliers that twinkled. It looked so ordinary, but there was that…_sound. _…Like…ringing.

Without even really thinking about it, she stepped into that hallway.

The noise—ringing? music? whispers?—was a little louder now. The pull towards that wall was a little stronger. The air around her was thick with power. She could feel it like it was a tangible thing that ran in currents around her and along the walls. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and goosebumps were popping up along her skin.

"What are you doing?"

She whirled to see the prince standing behind her. Blinking, she slowly answered, "I don't know. …What _is_ this place?"

He looked around him, but it was like he wasn't seeing the same things she saw. "I'm not familiar with this part of the palace myself. After the attack and the palace's reconstruction, a lot of places were moved. Changed. This may be the result of that."

She shook her head. He was wrong. The part of her that _knew_ things knew what this place was. It always had been here. Longer than the time of the attack; longer than the extra century he had been alive. How could he not _feel_ what she felt?

…She had been here before.

No, she hadn't.

Yes. She had.

There was that sound again, louder than ever, calling out to her.

The sixteen-year-old stepped forward—

She was being held back. Endymion was holding her hand. He looked worried. It took all of her to listen to what he was saying:

"—We must leave," he said with urgency.

Her head shook. "I'm sorry," she could hear herself saying, "I just need to go and see. The door…I keep hearing something coming from the door…"

Endymion asked her a question, but it was lost on her…he sounded like he was a 1,000 miles away to her ears.

"The door." Her voice sounded far away too.

There was a…buzzing in her ears now. Like a ringing reverberating over and over and over again, magnified a million times. Or maybe the sound was in her head…centered where her headaches were always happening, right where the crescent-moon mark lay.

She neared the end of the hallway where…_the door_ stood.

The door to The Holy Sanatorium.

Would it let her in? She remembered…Mama saying she could only approach it in times of need. And that had been true; she had only been let inside on her own just once, when it had been important and the lives of her people would have been lost forever if she hadn't.

_But it's important now, too. I'm here because there's Evil. And it's trying to hurt the kingdom again. That's why I'm here._

Her hands pressed against the door in search of the latch where it was supposed to give like it had long ago. And she could feel it; but no matter how much pressure she put, it wouldn't move. The door wouldn't open.

There was no use fighting her way in. "I need you," she whispered, pressing her fingertips against the surface. "Now that I remember that you're here, I need you."

The power she could feel paused in the air for a moment and then moved. It receded towards her, washed over her like a wave. And then there was light from the other side of the door and all around her, blinding her.

_"This room will not yet yield for you."_ A voice that seemed made up of a thousand others said to her.

She removed her hands from the latch. "I understand; I'm not strong enough."

_"It is not a matter of your strength. You are strong and have grown capable of protecting yourself, and us. But, there are things…memories I have kept dormant, so as to not overwhelm you. I fear you knowing everything so quickly would make you vulnerable or place you in danger. Please understand."_

"I _do_ understand, but…I have to protect my people."

_"Their hearts are being protected as I promised._

_"__…You can no longer doubt your strength," _a new voice suddenly said. Distinctly feminine and young; it almost exactly like hers. _"You must trust in others around you. They will protect you and lend you their strength—they __want__ to do so."_

"Who wants to?"

_"So many_… _The man who holds your hand now. __The man I loved_…_"_

And then she felt lighter than air and images ran through her mind. There were so many things to see…

_Herself._

_But not herself__…_

_Mama, her eyes shut in pain…the elders bowing to her, telling her things…the Moon Palace, torn open, destroyed…the looks of her greatest friends and trusted protectors as they left to fight for her for the last time…fire, smoke…a clouded sky…a __living__ sky that knew where she was and wanted her…her own hands covered in blood…her grandmother's statue…blinding light…a figure in silver armor…_

…_And then herself as she was now, just sixteen and a student trying to pass an exam…wearing a borrowed dress…seeing the signs her people held up as the Moon Palace opened its doors to the outside…watching Diamond be called a prince…a sea of faces, her dad's scared and worried…watching Aglecta yell at her…seeing Luna in a yellow dress, lace with embroidered birds on the bust, wiping away her tears…Artemis dancing a jig and bowing to her surprised, impressed laughter and applause…Diamond's friendly, purple eyes…and their dropped façade that showed how angry his gaze could be…_

…_And Endymion…dressed in dark armor…smiling…laughing…dancing with her over and over again…brushing away her tears…kissing her for the first time…dying in front of her, the wound he endured bleeding all over him, all over her and her dress…him, alive and alone__…__sitting by himself…walking by himself…standing amongst the roses by himself with his back turned…alone__…__and then him smiling at her, a smile that was the same as it was long ago, and then laughing…his blue eyes watching her as she ran through those roses…_

Serena gasped, the trance broken, and felt herself be pulled back to the ground. Someone caught her; strong arms held her.

It had been so much. And she couldn't help it: she cried.

* * *

_R&amp;R_


	8. VIII

VIII

* * *

_It had been Artemis that had ran from the palace to the rose garden to retrieve her. _

_And he had been the one who, between breaths, informed her of the incident that had occurred during the talks that day: __of her mother having to be removed from the conference room, and of her quick entrance and exit from the Mare Serenitatis._

_"Her Majesty requested to be in her office to abate worry. …I believe the physicians may still be with her as we speak."_

_He did not ask permission to take her hand and guide her to her mother, senshi in tow._

_The palace passed by her in a blur of the paintings and carvings that adorned the walls. Belatedly, she noticed that their traveled path had none of the other royals and fewer of the palace guards._

_With heavy pants and sweat traveling down her forehead and back, Serenity dropped the hand of her mother's scribe as they all ran up the final flight of stairs and came upon the hallway that led to the foyer of her mother's office. _

_There were no guards posted at the doors. Her eyes absorbed the sight of the elders huddled around one another like a flock of birds, __talking amongst themselves as usual. Whatever matter they were discussing—because they had been speaking of a matter of importance—ended as one or all of them spied her._

_Serenity tried to swallow the feeling of foreboding within her to no avail. "Thank you," she said to Artemis._

_He bowed, his white hair falling across the shoulders of his dress shirt like a curtain. For a moment, she stared at him. The chest-width necklace he wore that told of his position as a scribe, the large gold-plated, upturned-crescent moon pendant that always caught the light of the sun dangled from its chain._

_And then her gaze focused on the wizened figures before her. Her forehead wrinkled; she felt she knew there was something they did not want to tell her. There was something important, differentiating, about this moment between them._

_"Princess—" An elder suddenly broke from the pack to near her._

_A deep need to rebuff him and the others rose. She shook her head minutely; she didn't want to hear. "Be silent."_

_The elder stopped in his tracks. It was the first time she had ever spoken to any one of them so rudely before. One by one, they showed varying expressions of shock—except Aglecta, of course, whose face was pinched in anger at her indignation._

_It was of no matter; she gave one final glance towards her senshi before walking to the golden handles of those sliding doors and parting them herself._

_The afternoon sun filtered through the foyer's windows and made bright squares across the carpet, butterscotch leather chairs, and peonies that sat in their large porcelain pots. The childish part of herself thought back to the days when she was young and would tiptoe across this room in stocking feet to surprise her mother in the middle of her work. How many times had she imagined herself one day standing behind the large oak desk that was always covered in stacks of paper?_

_How close was she to that moment now?_

_She startled as the doors leading to her mother's actual office opened suddenly. In their gap stood Luna in a yellow dress with a pattern of flowers, and a tray of water and cups in her hands. "Princess!" She gasped. _

_"Luna." _

_Luna's bow was deep yet brief. "Please excuse me." __Her mother's handmaiden pushed open the door on her behalf and made a circle to step around her, but the princess had already seen the red, swollen look of her eyes. _

_A lump was growing in her throat._

_Serenity's own gaze found her mother not behind her large mahogany desk, but doubled over in one of the chairs at the other side, the one that was always positioned towards the window for her to survey the palace grounds. The zipper of the dress the queen wore, white with gold beaded embroidery, was left gaping open. "Mama!" She ran towards her mother and fell to her knees before her. "W, what is wrong? What has happened?!" Her worried eyes searched her mother's face and the lines around around her mouth and eyes. Already she looked so different. So old._

_Her mother did not answer right away. Her hand caressed her daughter's face ever so gently and searched her face with her eyes. "…There is a great change that will soon occur in our kingdom."_

_Serenity felt a chill of fear at those words. "What?"_

_"There is something important I must share with you. I must finally allow you to see." Her mother began to pull at the shoulders of her dress, fully shedding the expensive fabric and baring her alabaster skin, using her right hand to cup her left breast in modesty. She raised her left arm. _

_From her lower rib to her armpit, it had the dark appearance of a terrible bruise and the texture of a snake's: dry and cracked. It looked foreign…dead…_

_Serenity's eyes widened and words of inquiry died on her lips. She lifted a trembling hand to it—_

_"No! Serenity, you mustn't!"_

_She obeyed the rise of volume and panic in her mother's voice, and felt glad that she had been stopped. "…W, what is it?"_

_"I, I do not know. And the physicians do not know; only that it is the cause of my sickness and pain… It, it eats away at me on the inside… And grows everyday." She shuffled her dress' material back unto her milky-white shoulders. __"I can no longer hide this from you…" her mother looked down at her with a calm look in her eyes, but the princess saw the tears gathered at each corner. In the softest voice, the she said, "My life and my reign as Queen of the Moon are ending."_

_Her mother once again began coughing, hard wracking sounds that made her body shake and her eyes shut tightly…but Serenity could not bring herself to help her, not after being told that she was not to do so earlier. "But, what about going to the sanatorium? Artemis told me… Cannot the crystal heal you?"_

_The queen swallowed. "…The crystal no longer responds to me."_

_Her head shook in disbelief. "Why not?!"_

_She shook her head. "I do not know. But my connection to it has weakened too greatly. It only spoke to me this morning. And it had one final request of me: to enter the Holy Sanatorium and put it in its proper place. And it will stay there until you are ready to assume its power__…_

_"…I was never told how it would be when my power waned. Even your grandmother lived for another half-century after I assumed my role…"_

_Hot, salty tears began to fall from Serenity's eyes. Her fingers gripped the fabric of the carpet underfoot. A sob left her lips._

_"Shhh," her mother soothed. Her hand smoothed her hair, pulling back on the strands that had loosened from her buns. "You cannot cry for long, my love. You must now look forward. When you and I leave this room and face those gathered in the hallway, you will be the ascending queen. The embodiment of the Moon's future. You must appear to be strong for all to see; you must show yourself to be capable in the coming days."_

_She nodded._

_She was coaxed to stand and wipe her tears. It was her hands that zipped up her mother's dress and made her decent once more._

_The walk from the office and back to the hallway felt like the longest she had ever taken in her life. Whatever girlish thoughts within her seemed so small and insignificant now. She had been laughing mere moments before in the rose garden; that felt like a lifetime ago compared to now. _

_She opened the doors herself and faced the people who stood on the other side. The elders again stopped whispering amongst themselves, but not before she heard the last of Aglecta's words: "…return to the Earth in a fortnight, if not earlier…" _

_"I present to you," her mother said in a calm, careful voice to the gathering, "your future queen: Her Royal Majesty Queen Serenity II of the Moon Kingdom's Silver Millennium."_

_There was a pause. All looked at her, but she could not meet their collective gaze, deigning only to look straight ahead. _

_Artemis and a still-tearful Luna bowed first, falling to their knees. "Your Royal Majesty…"_

_Her senshi placed their hands on their hearts and bowed low enough that Venus' and Mars' long hair touched the floor. "Your Royal Majesty," they said in unison._

_"…Your Royal Majesty," the elders said, hesitating, but bowing the lowest they had ever had towards her…_

_Hands wringing together, eyes wide, words caught in her throat, she murmured a word of thanks. Without any more to say, she left her mother and all her mother's people behind. _

_The walk down the stairs and through the hallways was not even the same. The other royals were all milling about suddenly, laughing as they always had, unaware of what was unfolding behind the palace's most private doors. __Her head felt disconnected from her body; she fought against the prickle of tears that threatened to run down the apples of her cheeks._

_The footfalls of her senshi came behind her, and she could sense their hesitancy to speak. "Princess," Venus finally began—_

_Serenity merely shook her head. She did not dare to stop and face them. "May I be left alone?" She whispered. "Please."_

_The footsteps stopped. "O—of course."_

_She wiped her eyes as she ducked through a hallway that led to an outdoor walkway. The heels of her shoes scrapped the bricks underneath. The world outside seemed to have changed with the news; dark clouds in the sky promised rain and a wind whipped about her. But still, she did not cease in her travel until she reached her destination._

_Endymion and the other delegates had been housed in the northwestern wing of the palace during their stay. She could remember how he admitted he quite liked the lower-level room he had been given and its matching burnished cream-colored furniture and curtained walls, and large, width-spanning windows that showed him the small courtyard and near-perfect view of Earth. The princess found herself being grateful for the distance that now existed between him and the other bedrooms and suites of the Moon Palace where the royals deigned to live. _

_There he was, seated on the couch with his elbows resting on his knees. The back of his hands were interwoven into a bridge to rest his chin. His four protectors flanked his either side and spoke above his head, gesturing with hand sweeps and nods. Their expressions were all clouded, serious as they entreated him; his was bored and blank._

_She willed him to look up and see her standing on the other side of the wall of glass between them._

_He did so._

_Immediately he rose from his seat, surprising his men and one by one, they all looked to what had caught his attention. Serenity could almost hear his footsteps along the hard wood floor and the tinkling of the low-hanging chandelier as it brushed the top of his dark hair._

_She walked towards him and could see herself in the reflection of the glass. It was as if she were no longer looking at herself: the girl before her in the draped off-white dress was a child, and she was now being commanded by The Fates to suddenly become an adult._

_The sky was beginning to open up to the sadness she felt. __A fat raindrop landed on her shoulder. And then on her cheek. _

_The glass door slid open with a smooth, quiet sound. He led her inside with his arm outstretched, and palm open. His fingers wrapped her hand in his warmth._

_The space smelled like his cologne, musk and cloves._

_She stared over his shoulder at his soldiers, who bowed to her, and then at the wall behind him where an old, worn shield had been placed for decoration. For a moment, she stared at him and the way it looked like his face was framed in a golden circle of light. _

_His fingertips ran over her face, the curves of her cheeks and her chin. __"…What has happened with your mother?" He murmured gently._

_The saccharine feeling was gone. Tears gathered in her eyes as she thought about what she knew, what he was asking her to say._

_"Tell me." He pressed in his deep and gentle, soothing voice. "You can tell me."_

_The realization that she could and wanted to, and the need to cry finally overwhelmed her. "__She…she…s__he is dying." She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shirt as she felt the tears fall. "She is dying!" _

_She could hear the sound of his soldiers retreating from the space._

_They, she and Endymion, stood without speaking. The rain fell steadily against the windows; hiccups and sobs left her lips._

_Endymion's arms wrapped around her and she could feel the heat of his embrace through her clothing and on her skin. "…Your mother began coughing in the midst of a discussion. The topic argued was being initiated from my side of the table. Usually she excuses herself and talk is paused until her return. But this time…she fell to her knees as she tried to exit, faint. Her hand was covering her mouth._

_"Her scribe—"_

_"Artemis," she murmured._

_"He ran from his place to help her to her feet. I believe he was there before anyone truly understood what was occurring. But as she stood, she touched his suit jacket with the hand that covered her mouth. All saw the mark of blood she had left."_

_Serenity remembered the fleeting thought she had had when Artemis first came upon her in the rose garden, and now realized the cause of why he had looked so different: his suit jacket had been missing._

_She cried, not wanting to know anymore._

_He held her tighter. "I am sorry. I know she is important to you." He rubbed her back in small, soothing circles. "…I have been waiting for word regarding the talks."_

_"The elders want to end the talks. I heard Aglecta say so…"_

_"We__—__myself, the other delegates, and even my guard__—__have all suspected as much…"_

_Serenity lifted her head. "I do not want you to leave." He touched her face once more, brushing his fingertips along her forehead and birthmark, and she grabbed his wrists to keep his warmth near. "I do not want you to leave," she repeated. "How can I be without you?" The moment the words left her, she knew that she could feel the meaning behind them: her overwhelming need and her helplessness; her want to have him near just for her sake; and her own guilt for that desire. But she could not help herself; her heart seemed to find a way to ache even more than before at the very idea of him being far away. "I am not strong without you."_

_"That is not true: you are very strong. You have your people, your senshi, others who care for you."_

_She thought about the wall of faces that had stared at her as she had stood before them as their ascending queen. She shook her head. Thunder sounded outside and it felt like she was listening to the sounds of a world where she simply existed as her mother's child crash down and turn to dust. "No, I am not. I am strong with you! My heart knows it is strong with you near!"_

_"__…__My men have tried to convince me that it would be best to leave the Moon for now. They have told me of my obligations to my people__—__and they are correct. As a ruler, I have an obligation to be on my planet, for it is my responsibilty. But, I have told them that it is impossible for me to leave… My heart beats as a man. And it tells me it would stay behind and continue to beat for you if I left the Moon behind me."_

_He stared into her eyes. "…I love you."_

_She felt her own heart skip a beat at his words. Suddenly, thoughts of her mother and of her fast-approaching future faded away. If his heart beat as only a man who loved her, then hers beat as the woman she was being told to become. It beat for him only, the prince of Earth haloed in gold. "I love you, too."_

_She stared at him through her tears and wished, as she had since the moment she had heard him say her name, that he would kiss her. _

_He bent forward and his lips pressed against hers. She savored the feeling that came again and again, and became sad when he pulled away for air._

_The storm continued outside and her lips and her very soul were given the warmth of his touch and affection. His promises were almost as sweet: "I love you, I will never leave…I love you, I promise I will be with you…I love you, I promise to protect you…I love you…"_

* * *

_**A/N:**__ I am very sorry for the mishap that went down when I went to upload this. It's taken weeks, but it's back up. _


	9. IX

IX

* * *

Serena woke up in her bedroom. Her bathrobe was still on, and from the way her hair fell over her right shoulder, the bun was completely undone. The window curtains were drawn tightly; the sound of heavy rainfall hitting the glass windows filled in the quiet of the room; and soft white light came through the uncovered windows of her balcony doors.

It was almost the night before had never happened.

Almost.

Her eyes stared out into the relative darkness.

She was still herself, even after everything had happened; part her wanted to only curl up in a ball under her covers and fall back asleep. She wanted her mom to come in and force her out of bed for school. But she also wasn't the same… The side of her that had existed since that morning months ago was different, but she couldn't think of the words to really describe _how. _The teen still felt the power of the Mare Serenitias' washing over her.

Eyes wide open, she saw scraps of the dream she had awoken from—what she knew without being told was a memory of the past. Luna and Artemis and the elders. And Queen Serenity. And Endymion…

"And Princess Serenity," she murmured softly to herself.

There was a quiet knock on her door.

Her fingertips, which had floated to her forehead without her realizing, fell to her lap. There hadn't been a headache where her crescent-moon mark was—just a sort of…concentrated tingling. "Come in…"

The doorknob turned and in the open doorway stood Luna with a tray with covered crème-colored porcelain dishes, cups, and a matching teapot half-balanced on her hip. She was wearing a honeysuckle-colored dress that made her pale skin luminescent, and it shimmered as the dark-haired woman moved quickly to close the door behind her. Serena neither saw nor heard any of the other handmaidens straightening things in her drawing room. "…Good morning."

Serena sat up. "Good morning."

The dishes rattled as the tray was placed down. Luna's steps to the windows were brisk; the bits of gold trim and the metals around her room gleamed in the soft light of the parted windows. Luna then walked over to her bed and pulled back the canopy. She stared at the girl in a way that reminded the teenager of her mother's own expressions sometimes. "…How are you feeling?"

The sixteen-year-old saw the dark circles under the woman's eyes and knew how she had ended back in her bedroom. Pieces of the last few hours came back to her: hushed, panicked, and worried voices; the feel of a bed that wasn't hers; and fingertips smoothing stray strands in her hair buns.

And then, like her sight had flickered, she saw beyond that: a thousand memories of Luna standing off to the side and behind Queen Serenity, her eyes shining with motherly expressions—joy, surprise, concern, love.

Serena blinked. "I'm…fine, just a little tired."

Luna sighed. "I have been worried since Artemis and Prince Endymion brought you back here early this morning. Barely able to sleep. Artemis told me you were fine, but still… They do not believe anyone was aware of your being away."

"…Thank you…"

"Well, I am so glad that you are well and awake now. …Sometimes the palace can be cold when it rains. I asked that oatmeal be your breakfast today." Her wan smile turned artificial. "When you're finished, I'll get you ready for your meeting with the elders."

The woman bowed and turned, but before Serena knew what she was doing, she found herself holding unto her arm. "Luna, please sit with me for a minute?"

Luna looked back at her, surprise on her face. "…Of course," She removed her shoes and gathered her dress' hem to crawl into bed and settle in the space the teenager created for her. Her head rested on Serena's shoulder without permission; her wavy, black hair fell across her dress' shimmering fabric and the younger girl's own silk bathrobe. A yawn escaped her lips.

They sat in silence and the rainfall outside continued. The smell of hot chocolate slowly permeated the air; it and Luna's perfume filled Serena's nostrils.

"Luna…thank you for everything you did to keep me safe. And thank you for when you stood up to the elders for me. I'm sorry I didn't do the same for you…" She fell silent for a moment before saying, "but I promise that I will be strong enough to do it the next time." And just like that, that feeling of change had grown within the teenager—as if she had finally begun doing something right.

A soft snore escaped Luna's lips.

Serena eventually slipped out of bed and, for the first time since being in the palace, got ready for the day by herself. Today was the day the elders would be drafting their response to Parliament and it was important that she be there. But somewhere during her routine—bathing; settling on a dress, long-sleeved with vertical stripes the colors of the rainbow; and eating her breakfast—she felt a pull in another direction. It wasn't something she could explain, but she couldn't shake that feeling. …She knew deep within in herself that it was there for a reason and important to see through.

The storm made everything seem quieter than usual. She took a path she knew avoided the suites where the other royals were still sleeping and had few handmaidens and fewer guards to witness her walking around. Eventually she came upon a solitary staircase with a slight coil that went up one flight and ended in a short, isolated hallway with wall paintings of archers, satyrs, and animals.

Her eyes saw their mirrored poses and gestures toward a pair of golden door handles. She knew exactly where she was.

Looking behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed, she half-tiptoed towards the door. Her hand trembled as she opened them wide enough to slide through.

The foyer of the queen's office wasn't like how she _knew_ it used to be. The wallpaper was the same, silver-and-white wallpaper with its pattern of a butterfly stretching its wings, but the heavy curtains and lampshades were gone; light filtered through the windows unhindered. It was the same with the lamps that stood to one-side beside the tarp-covered leather chairs: their shades were missing, and the lightbulbs were bare. If it hadn't been for the smell of citrus-scented cleaners in the air, Serena would've thought it completely abandoned.

Her heart thumped in her chest as she reached the second set of doors and opened them.

She wasn't alone. "…Artemis?"

The man she knew as her etiquette instructor startled as he looked away from a large window. His looked scared for a moment, and the suit jacket he had been holding fell from his hand. He relaxed as he realized it was just her and bowed to her as always, but the surprised look in his green eyes was still there as he straightened up. "…My thoughts were you would either be in bed or in the company of the elders."

"I…decided not to go, and…ended up here."

He gave her a brotherly grin as he picked up his dropped garment. "I find the same thing often happens to me as well, especially on days like this. There's something comforting about this particular space." He stared at the space and then at her. "…You were never shown this room when your first arrived."

She shook her head.

"Well then," he mustered enthusiasm and made a sweeping gesture with his arm, "by all means—explore."

It was just like the foyer: packed boxes and lumps covered with tarp. Only, this time, it wasn't enough to hide the complete picture. She saw what was once there: the would-be curtains draped over the windows; the desk with stacks of books and letters and papers, vials of black ink and fountain pens, and the solitary vase that stood beside a ceramic bust of a deer's head and was always replaced with a different bouquet of white-colored flowers. Even though the walls stood bare, she _knew_ they once showcased paintings and portraits, and that there had been large potted plants with huge leaves and long vines placed on top of the two untouched bookshelves that still stored thick leather-bound books and scrolls with yellowed edges. Serena imagined Her Majesty sitting behind the desk with a cup of tea in hand…and Artemis in one of the chairs across from her, dutifully reading to her a book's passage.

Her fingers were grazing her forehead. Serena's eyes traveled back where he stood now at the window and it was like she was really seeing him for the first time. "Artemis? …When I first came here to the palace, Luna told me you knew the Moon's politics better than anyone."

The white-haired man smiled at the mention of praise. "As always, Luna gives me more credit than I deserve," he joked. "But I have, in my own way, tried to follow the Moon's government closely."

"…Is it because of the work you used to do as the queen's scribe?"

His gaze became surprised and for a moment, he paused to stare at her. It was like he knew there was something new and different about her too. "…When were you told about that?"

"I, I wasn't…" She stammered the next thing she wanted to say: "Can I just…ask you a question?"

"…Of course."

"The letter about me being the princess—what do you think about it? As someone who knows about Parliament?"

"That is a very serious question… If I were to be honest with my thoughts," she nodded, "I understand their perspectives. Above all else, Parliament works on behalf of the people of the Moon, and that entails many different needs that change from group to group or person to person. You embody many different things to different people, but you yourself have been seldom seen since that night, and the people's curiosity grows more and more. After all, does your presence now mean that Parliament no longer exists?

"Their governing body cannot answer their inquiries, and that makes them seem weak. …So, despite the elders' consensus, the government's concern is not without merit."

Artemis looked up at her, his expression pensive and patient. "…But I do not think that is where your question is truly concerned. Or that that was the answer you were looking for."

Her head shook minutely.

Artemis walked over to the covered chairs before the desk and pulled off the tarp. He gestured to one seat for her and then sat in the other, gingerly setting his suit jacket down.

Despite the lessons about posture, the sixteen-year-old hunched over in her seat, hugging her arms and looking at her shoes peeking from underneath the hem of her dress. "I think that it's about…_why_ Parliament felt that they needed to write it. I know that they're doing their job, and that it's important that I prove myself to them—and I want to. But why…do I feel, deep down, like it's not really about that?"

"…What do you think it is about?"

She thought about her dreams, the strange need she had had to find this room. The voice from last night saying,

_"…You can no longer doubt your strength…"_

echoed in her head, and the words seemed to fly out of her mouth: "It's about someone being afraid of what I can do."

He gave her another strange look. _"Someone?"_

She nodded and felt her forehead tingle once more. "Someone."

Neither of them spoke. The rain outside began its fall again.

"…The return of the princess has been something we have all hoped for. But now that you are here, your arrival is no longer an impossibility. You exist; you are now a catalyst for change. That means the end of many things for many people."

"What has it meant for you?"

"In a way, it has meant the end of waiting and wondering what would have been had the princess lived. You, of course, are not Princess Serenity, but there are certain things about you that favor her. You exhibit a fire I saw but a few times during her life, a need to do right by everyone; I remain convinced that she would have carried a needed strength to her role.

"But for you: I am sure that fire is something that the people closest to you are curious to witness how it will be harnessed and utilized. As I am."

She looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

He picked up his suit jacket and pulled out a stack of envelopes of different sizes and colors and a rolled up section of the newspaper, all bound with a thick rubber band. "My learning of government's happenings truly comes from picking up my favorite of the nationally-based newspapers delivered to the royal guard's front post. In my retrieval of it this morning, I happened to see this stack of letters reserved for you and a very interesting article in the paper, and I retrieved them just for you."

He handed them to her.

Her fingers flipped through them. Most were from her mom and dad, but there were some from Naru and her classmates, and even a few with the Game Center Crown logo.

The smile on her face was the widest it had been in a while. "Thank you."

Her etiquette teacher stood and with his hand over his heart, bowed to her once more. Without speaking another word, he walked over to the doors and slid them closed upon his exit.

She set her letters aside and grabbed at the newspaper. Her fingers unfolded what was a blown up picture of herself from her first birthday. She knew this one. It had been taken inside her old living room, from before her mom had redecorated it. She was being held by a younger, smiling version of her dad, and she was looking over her shoulder at someone or something off-camera. The bib she wore did nothing to keep her birthday dress, tulle and stripes with a glittery collar, clean and pink frosting coated the hand she had shoved in her mouth.

She stared at the tiny crown that sat askew on her head, and read the large-print words above it:

_'Serena Tsukino: Our Princess, My Daughter'_

* * *

The storm that had carried on throughout the day finally ended as twilight turned to night.

The knocks Endymion heeded revealed her to be standing on the other side, a stack of letters in hand.

For the first time all day, since he and Artemis had placed her back in her quarters and gone their separate ways, he felt true relief. Wordlessly, he let her and the colors she brought with her inside. His blue eyes watched her walk through the short hallway that opened into his suite, her footing sure and her posture straight.

It was the first thing he saw as different about her now.

She stopped at the threshold between the his seating area and the smaller space where his dining table stood.

"Please sit down," he said.

"Oh, um…thank you." She chose the dining area and sat in the table's solitary chair. Those eyes of hers stared about the space, at the small and low-hanging chandelier above head, the weathered gold shield on the far wall, and white roses kept in the vase the servers left for him—for etiquette's sake or kindness, he was never sure.

Her cheeks were turning pink; her fingers rubbed her forehead, and he noticed the smudges of black ink on her fingertips. "Luna told me that you helped bring me back to my room after what happened. I wanted to say thank you."

"You are welcome."

They shared silence. Endymion saw the faraway dreamy look to her eyes, but had no idea of her thoughts. He wondered if she truly remembered all that had happened in that corridor…

_"I'm sorry…I just need to go see. The door. I keep hearing something from the door."_

_He looked at her, and felt the panic within him rising. "Serena, there is no door! What…what are you hearing?"_

_The young girl turned away from him without answering and walked further into the hallway. The prince made the move to follow and bring her back to him, but felt the air shift with his first step. A force had suddenly wedged itself between them. It was nothing he could see or break through, only feel as it pushed him further away from her until he was almost out the hallway._

_Endymion wanted to call to her, but he could feel that power __washing over him, taking away his voice. His knees hit the floor, unable to stand any longer._

_He could only watch her get closer to that wall and run her hands against every crevice on its surface. He could see her speaking to the air, as if in conversation. Her touch began to focus on a particular spot, and he saw the effort she made to move whatever stopped her, but she eventually fell to her knees in resignation. _

_Four thin white lines of light grew around the perimeter of the wall_—_the door she spoke of_—_and__ poured__ into the corridor and washed over Serena. Her pigtails rose from the ground, and then her body began to follow, her back arching and her arms stretching as she rose like a bird in flight. Her bathrobe slipped from her shoulders; her slippers fell to the ground, one after another. He watched her be covered in its glow until only her silhouette remained. __The light around her pulsed, and he felt it in his chest. I__t felt like it was burning within him, spreading from throat to torso…_

_He willed himself to move once more and found that he could—that he was now __allowed__ to near her. He half-crawled, half-stumbled forward. _

_"Serena…" he choked out hoarsely._

_Her eyes opened, but instead of her pale blue irises, her eyes were glowing pure white. And the mark on her forehead, that image of the moon…it glowed as well…_

"I saw something about the princess." She said suddenly.

"Serenity?"

She nodded, staring intently at the tabletop once more. "It was something from the past. It was the day the queen told her she was dying…"

He remembered that day clearly. The sight of blood on the queen's hand…Serenity in his embrace as he finally told her of his feelings. That day had happened mere feet from where the young girl sat now.

The prince stared into Serena's face. Part of him felt as though she was here to ask him about what he and Serenity had shared. He felt as though yesterday she would have done so.

But today was a different day, and the young girl before him did none of those things. "I think the reason why I saw it…is because there's something I needed to see."

Endymion stared at this girl who seemed to change every time he encountered her, and thought of the visions that had crossed his own mind—of Diamond's hateful glare, and Serenity's expression of mistrust. And he recollected what else he had witnessed before in that hallway, what he had not been able to tell Luna and Artemis when he had appeared to them in the dead of night with Serena in his arms.

The thing he knew only he was meant to see…

_Her eyes, the way that light shined from them and caught the dust in the air_…_ He was struck with the memory of moonlight falling on his face from a window. T__he warmth in his chest pulsed through his veins again, and he lifted his arm to hold her hand. "Serena? Serena?" The pad of his thumb rubbed the back of her hand. _

_"Endymion_…_" _

_The sound of his name on her lips was different from before__. His hand slipped from hers and he took a step back._

_Those eyes of hers trained themselves on him and he felt he could see the furthest reaches of the universe. "Prince Endymion, you must protect her."_

_"Protect…protect who?"_

_"Serena. You must promise me you'll protect her."_

_Endymion felt a chill go through his body. Her voice. Her voice sounded like it was hers—Serena's—and yet, he knew it was __not__ hers. Not the girl he had come to know and made him smile; who he, in this moment, feared would disappear without a trace._

_More than a century had passed since he heard the exact timbre and pitch and inflections of this voice, but there was no way he could ever forget what used to fill his ears. "…__Serenity__…?"_

_She smiled ruefully, like he was wrong. But he could not be mistaken, could he?_

_"What do you mean, protect her? From what?"_

"There was a voice yesterday."

He looked down at her and saw her eyes casted downward, her face solemn and serious.

"In the hallway. A voice from told me that I needed to trust in the people around me. Like Artemis and Luna and…you." She looked at him and then looked away once more. "…I'm going to respond to Parliament and the letter." Her fingertips pinched the corner of one of her envelopes, a white one without a written address, and gave him a brief smile. "I know that it's important that I do it, but I'm just…scared about what will happen."

He reached across the table and held her hand, rubbing his thumb across her skin.

For the first time since she walked in, she looked at him and kept her eyes on him.

_"You are already learning the answer_… _Just, promise me you'll take care of Serena. Please promise me."_

_He stared at the girl who floated above him, the voice that came out of her lips. "I…promise…"_

_"Thank you."_

_She, Serenity—she, Serena__—__gasped and suddenly came down. He caught her and held her close. His eyes stared at the wall before him, at the carvings around him, and felt the power recede through them to contain its secrets once more._

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Longest chapter thus far. Hardest chapter to write as well. But it's here! I think my biggest accomplishments with this chapter is having Artemis finally shine! And really letting Serena find the strength she's going to need. _


	10. X

Glossary

Charon: in Greek Mythology, he is the ferryman of Hades, the god of the Underworld, who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron

(The River) Styx: in Greek Mythology, it is a river that formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld.

Elysian Fields: A concept of an otherworld in Greek Mythology; described as a land of perfect happiness reserved for the heroes whom the gods granted immortality, and later, for all who lived a righteous life

_(Sources: Google/Wikipedia; Encyclopedia Britannica) _

* * *

X

* * *

_'To the Esteemed Members of Parliament,_

_'I have read your letter, and am sorry for not replying sooner, but I have thought about your words a lot. _

_'I understand that there are many things about me that make you worried about what type of ruler I'll be: I'm young; I have no experience about governing the Moon and its people. These are things I know are important. But even though I have these disadvantages, I have a duty to protect the people of The Moon and the kingdom. However, I know I cannot do that without you, and that's why I'm asking you to teach me. I want to learn about my responsibilities as ruler under your guidance and instruction. I think doing so will be beneficial for me until the day I am truly ready to assume my duty._

_'I hope my proposal is something you can agree with and I look forward to hearing from you._

_'Sincerely,_

_'Serena Tsukino'_

Serena solemnly looked up from her sheet of paper and into the eyes of The Elders of the Moon. Her body was breaking out in a nervous sweat, and a part of her wished she had not worn the dress she had chosen; they all could probably see her knees knock together in nervousness through its lower sheer material. And the red lipstick that she wore made her feel like she had magnified her mouth two sizes.

But there had been a reason why she looked the way she did. And why she had asked for Luna and Prince Diamond to leave the room. This needed to be something she did on her own.

The elders exchanged looks between themselves, as if trying to decide how best to respond. "What…" one of the woman who wore a thick shawl with embroidered roses finally said, "what is that you have read to us just now?"

"It's the letter I want to send to Parliament."

Their faces showed unconcealed shock. A few even held their hands to their mouths. "But, but—" the same woman spoke out with her eyebrows raised, "_we_ are still in the process of drafting a…_proper_ response to Parliament. What have you written—well, it is very friendly and _inviting_, but—"

_"But,"_ another cut in, "it proposes something we do not believe is the best course of action for you. Parliament's letter was written to intrude—"

"I disagree."

"You _disagree_?!" They echoed.

Serena put her arms down so that they could fully see her face. The teenager stood taller, wanting to recapture the bravery and sureness she had felt when she had sat at Queen Serenity's old desk the afternoon before and wrote draft after draft. "I don't think it's crazy for Parliament to say that they don't trust me as a ruler. There hasn't been a ruler in so long; maybe they're scared because of that. And maybe I could rule without them, but they know the needs of the people. And they have created the laws the citizens of the Moon follow—people like me. I'm supposed to be the Moon's ruler, but I don't know the first place to start. I need them."

"…When was this…letter written?"

"Yesterday."

"Yesterday?!" The elders erupted in their usual chaos of speaking above one another: "How is it that this has happened in the past day?"…"Is _this_ the reason for your lack of attendance?!"…"After all our hard work spending day after day to write this _insipid_—"…"But, we were told you were unwell yesterday!"

Aglecta, from her place on the other side of the table directly across from Serena, slammed her palms unto the table. The chatter in the room fell to abrupt silence, and the sixteen-year-old swore she heard the _swish_ of the elder's green satin dress as she stood. The old woman looked every bit as severe as she had the day they had met for her first lesson in the very room they were in now; her lips were so pursed together, she looked like she had sucked on a lemon. If it weren't for her heart beating like crazy in her chest, the teen maybe would've even thought it was funny.

Her eyes narrowed. "And why is it you believe Parliament should get to know you—or teach you anything at all? What, exactly, is it you think _we_ are incapable of showing you ourselves?"

"I am the protector of the Moon. That's why I'm here. That's what I want the people of the Moon to believe because it's the truth." She took a quick inhale of breath, remembering something she had read in her father's article about her during that previous day. "I _am_ responsible for keeping the Moon safe, and I know that if people believe in me, I can do that."

"…That night," the first elder said. "When you were at Coronation. You said you were here to protect us, and you said the words again just now. What do you truly mean when you say 'protect the Moon?'" She didn't let Serena answer before gasping in surprise. "Is there a threat to the kingdom?"

The bravery Serena felt faltered slightly. "I don't…" Her letter flapped as her fingertips touched her forehead. They dropped abruptly. "…I don't know if there is a threat exactly."

A tremor of panicked words burst from the others. The elder woman tried again. "But can you dete—"

"BE SILENT!" Aglecta yelled at the woman, quieting her. "Be silent!" Her beady eyes focused on Serena. "You _cannot_—_could_ not—_possibly_ know the words of which you speak! You speak of things beyond your understanding, and I will not sit here and listen to you be so bold! I will _not _allow you to speak lies to cover up how much you have proven to be a charlatan!

"If you _are_ here to fulfill the needs of the kingdom, then you are here to guide us to the Silver Millennium Crystal. _That_ is why you are here! _That _is why you are allowed behind these walls! Every day I have spent trying to get you to show even a shred of the power we believed the princess possessed at your age! I have—I have sat in this very room, and watched you fail _over_ and _over_. How _dare_ you pretend to have such power?! To speak as if you are suddenly capable of doing something that any member of the royal family could not accomplish without the Silver Millenn—"

_"Stop telling me that I can't do anything!"_ The letter had dropped from her hand and fallen to the floor, but she didn't need it anymore. "You don't know! Stop…stop telling me I can't do stuff. None of you know what I can do; you haven't even tried. Everything that I know learned is because I've had to ask or…or be shown. I _know_ I can protect the Moon, but I can't if I don't learn under the people who know the Moon. And that's not _you!_"

Her pale blue eyes locked with Aglecta's own fiery glare. She could see her as she was a century ago: the same angry, snappish woman—and then her vision…_blurred_.

The pain in her forehead felt like she had just experienced a blow, and the room started spinning. She had never felt this way before.

"…We…we understand your perspective and the frustration that is placed on you," the first elder said hesitantly, carefully. Her hand rose and made a motion for calm from both sides. "And maybe in using your letter as a guide, we can change our terms to make your request possible—"

"It's too late," Serena said woozily. "I…I wrote the letter twice. This one," she bent down to pick up the neglected sheet, "is a copy I wanted to keep and read to you." She took a deep breath and felt the world right itself once more. "The other one I had sent directly to Parliament earlier this morning. Artemis is delivering it for me, and he promised he wouldn't come back without their response. So," she said, looking at their stunned faces, "even though you disagree and don't want me to do anything, I'm going to do this anyway."

The sixteen-year-old girl bowed to them all with her hand over her heart, and wordlessly turned away from them, passing under the princess' image and smile as she left the room for the final time.

* * *

For the second time in twice as many hours, there were a series of knocks on Endymion's door.

"Diamond."

The Moon-born royal entered into the suite without awaiting permission and immediately ventured into the drawing room. His expression was tight with frustration and his fists were clenched, as if ready to scream at the top of his lungs. "Something has happened just now. At the meeting."

Endymion's panic for Serena was sudden—_Have I __already__ failed in my promise to protect her?_—but schooled his face to betray nothing. He followed the familiar path to his drawing room and the adjacent dining area, watching as the man he had not seen in weeks pace back and forth before the sofa, running his fingers through his white hair.

"What has happened now with the esteemed Elders of the Moon?" he asked with the familiar ring of sarcasm.

"She," the Moon-born prince struggled to formulate the words and his fingers fumbled to unbutton his suit jacket, "_she_ has written a _letter_ or some such _nonsense_ to Parliament saying—lessons on how to be a queen. On how to _rule!_ She all but…_stripped_ the elders of their titles! Aglecta is in a rage—has even threatened to punish Artemis for the role _he _has played in all of this. She refuses to listen to reason; it is taking everything for the others to calm her." He sat down on the couch and his expression was one of true frustration. "I do not understand what has happened," he murmured to himself.

"What do you mean?" Endymion asked. The prince of Earth picked up his solitary dining table chair and brought it before the wall of windows and across from the prince. His body hunched over in the seat, as if he were lying in wait.

"I mean, what has _happened_ to lead her to act so brashly? So foolishly? To even _write_ that letter?" Diamond's brow wrinkled. "…It is as if things have spiraled beyond my control. …Aglecta and a few of the other elders mentioned her saying that she is learned or being shown things that none of them have taught her. They do not know what that means."

The two men fell to quiet. The clouds outside passed along the back wall of the royal grounds, the sky phasing between brightness and shade as nimbus clouds blocked the sunlight. The fountain full of koi stood strong as always, a world unto itself.

The prince of Earth turned back to the white-haired man sitting on the couch. "She is so well liked amongst the other royals. If it were not for these talks, they would still be begging for her company. And the staff is a bunch of…" he paused to form the humor in his voice, "gossipy maids. Has no one thought that she may have overheard something?" He said lowly. "If that were the case, it would be impossible to find the culprit—if one does exist."

"But… If she felt unsure or worried about things—her education towards becoming queen—she could have found me. I am here for that purpose. I told her of my loyalty. She could have trusted in my confidentiality."

"…How could she be so certain?"

Diamond's gaze had shifted from the floor to Endymion's face. His eyes narrowed. "What?"

"You are known by association to the Moon Elders. You stand for them; you speak on their behalf when prompted. And though you deny it, you are able to have Aglecta's ear. In fact, despite your protests, you have always seemed truly capable of doing so."

The air changed with the prince's words and the humorless, accusatory way he uttered them. Diamond's glare became tense and as mistrustful as the last time they had held conversation. Endymion felt as if the memory that plagued him with its withholding of answers had come to life before him: he was staring into the eyes of an enemy; the feeling of hatred was growing in the pit of his stomach. "…What would you, or anyone here in the palace, consider necessary to keep hidden from her?" He spoke as if he already he knew the answer.

Their gazes held.

The question would remain unanswered.

Diamond stood and began to straighten his clothing. "I must go back and see if the elders have calmed now."

The two walked to the door and the Moon royal left the space without further acknowledgement to the guest that lived there.

* * *

_A fortnight had not yet passed before The Queen of the Moon's health turned for the absolute worst. The blemish on her skin had grown over her left shoulder and back and breast; breathing and moving had become painful. Not even the view of the royal grounds from her bedroom balcony comforted her. She was confined to her bed; everything she did, from drinking to to turning herself over in bed to relieving herself, had to be done with assistance. The physician made it clear that her life would end when the sickness reached her heart._

_As her mother's only child, she was to be the one to carry out all the rites of mourning: discarding her own fancy dresses and adornments for plain white garbs and bare feet; the carrying around and constant blessing of the two gold coins that would be placed over her mother's eyes to pay the ferryman of death, Charon, for her passage along the River Styx, and eventual entry into the Elysian Fields. Each moment she was granted to see her mother and watch her be doted upon by Luna and the other handmaidens ended with her tears._

_She wanted to be by her mother's side at all times, but the Elders of the Moon denied her that comfort and solitude. In their collective mind, it was best to indoctrinate her to various duties in her mother's stead—things that she would have to understand and practice the utmost decorum when performing as ascending ruler. She was to attend those purposeless meetings they used to peacock their self-importance to one another. Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter were kept from the meetings and directed to stand in the adjacent hallway with the rest of the royal guard. And Artemis, who was more than knowledgeable of her mother's notes and ideas and always patiently explained things to her, was relieved of his duties as scribe._

_There were so many changes taking place all at once, and as the days passed, Serenity felt her ire for the wizened, wrinkled royals grow and sour in a new way it had not before. Especially towards Aglecta. The elder's countenance was always foul and snappish, but it seemed to have worsened without cause or explanation or reason. Without her mother's presence to dispel the tension and strife The Buzzard Woman seemed bent on causing, she was able to be boisterous and combative without reproach. The rest of the elders bowed in supplication when confronted with her ferocity. _

_Serenity quickly learned what that meant for her:_

_"Our concern at this time lies with the handling of the crystal. It is still important for you to fully learn its secrets and utilize its power, a power that has held the kingdom—the universe—in balance and peace for eons. There is not a kingdom that does not desire it, and with your mother's waning health, it has the potential to slip from our grasp." Her fingers curled slowly and then clenched into a fist. "Its possession is your birthright, but there is no doubt that you do not yet have the capability to handle and control such a thing. Our kingdom's strength is centered on you keeping the crystal safe, but your inexperience keeps the Moon dependent on the other planets. _

_"We, of course, cannot teach you everything you need to know about the crystal, but that is an endeavor we must undertake in the days after your mother finally finds her peace. We have decided to invoke an act of regency for the benefit of the royal family. As such, one of us will assume the role of your sole guardian and diplomatic liaison: overseeing your education of the Silver Millennium Crystal; speaking to dignitaries from the other planets about interstellar politics and the like. _

_"Until your regent decides that you are truly ready to become Queen of the Moon, your coronation is on hold."_

_Serenity, powerless under the gaze of the elder's eyes and smug smile, could do nothing more than leave the room. Even as she went through the rest of the afternoon, she could not find the words to describe the tumult of feelings within her. Her senshi remained unconvinced that she was fine despite her assurances._

_Now, hours later, she was heading towards the archway where she had arranged to meet Endymion. He had made the decision to stay behind after his men and delegates left for Earth, but the other royals' reception of his presence had changed with her mother's waning health. He was now seen as an intruder, and she could not endure the looks and whispers around them, so this structure had become their private meeting place. His kind voice, his warm embrace, his obliging her with kisses whenever she asked—he made her forget what was wrong, and her love for him had deepened more in response. _

_"Your Royal Highness," a voice broke through her thoughts. _

_Serenity looked up to see Diamond emerging from her intended destination. His purple eyes were accentuated by his tie and shirt of the exact color. She had not seen him since the night in the drawing room—as least, she did not believe so. It was as if he had suddenly materialized from thin air.  
_

_Panic suddenly gripped her. Still, she moved forward towards Endymion. But as their paths finally crossed, she felt a cool touch around the crook of her arm. The young princess looked up to see the royal staring down at her. No words left his lips, but she could feel his grip tighten ever so slightly. His eyes bore into hers; there were words unspoken on his lips._

_Serenity pushed away him to free herself. _

_He let her go, and continued on his way.  
_

_She felt it necessary to rub away his touch and did not stop until finally approaching Endymion. His back rested against one of the pillars and he was straightening the sleeves his armor. _

_"What has happened? …Did Diamond—" _

_"I am fine." He said quickly, voice was thick with aggravation. His hand clasped hers and brought her near to kiss her forehead. They stayed that way for a few moments, until she could feel his calm. The look in his eyes was stormy; he did not speak for a moment. "…I overheard rumors about the elders' decision."_

_Thoughts of her encounter with Diamond fled her mind and __her brow wrinkled with frustration__. __"…So everyone in the palace is aware."_

_He mustered a tight smile. "Gossip tends to spread quickly among your staff and, in effect, to everyone else. It may take some time before something new captures their attention."_

_ "They truly do not think I am yet capable of ruling… And," she said, admitting to the thoughts that had been plaguing her, "and I am not." _

_"That is not true. You are as capable as you believe yourself to be."_

_"No." Serenity shook her head. "The crystal has a power that I only encountered once and__…__I have never forgotten how it made me feel. It is__…so great, and __I do need to learn how to handle it, but I do not trust them." She stared out to the rest of the grounds, sadness and anger and fear waging war inside her. "Aglecta will manipulate the others into giving her the responsibility. If she becomes my regent, there is no telling how she will abuse the power… And she is such a bully, the others would not oppose her when those moments occured__…__"_

_"To declare regency is a very controversial decision, even on Earth. There have been plenty of examples of regents keeping their power well past the ascending ruler's suitable age. She may isolate you from any supporters both within or outside your kingdom."_

_"Mars and Venus and Jupiter and Mercury…she would make them leave. And you would be kept away as well."_

_He gave her a solemn look. He did not have to agree with her words to make them true._

_Serenity's hand gripped his. "Endymion, what can I do?"_

_"You need an ally. An ally that you can trust and will be powerful enough to counter the elders' plans."_

_"I only trust the girls and…and you."_

_"…If you trust me, then marry me."_

_Her eyes widened. "…What?"_

_"Serenity, you are the most important person to me in the universe. I love you. I want to be with you for as long as I can draw breath and my heart beats in my chest. I want to be able to protect you from anyone who would want to hurt you and be the one who you seek to keep you safe." He fell to one knee before her. "I want you to marry me because I want you beside me always. I promise you that you not only find happiness with me, but the freedom to be the leader I know you are destined to be." __His thumb ran across her fingers. "Will you marry me?"_

_She stared into his handsome face. And she nodded. "Yes. …I will marry you."_

* * *

_**A/N:** Sailor Moon borrows a lot from Greek and Roman Mythology, so it only seemed right for Serenity to undergo some of the funeral rites reflecting of that time. _

_The beginning with Serena and the end scene with Serenity are basically the reasons why this chapter took so long. Serena's scene basically stayed true to the rough draft; Serenity's however did have a change from what I first intended. _


	11. XI

XI

* * *

_Ever so carefully, Princess Serenity rested the coins over her mother's eyes and quickly took her place back in the procession. She was grateful for the quiet that surrounded her; not one of the soldiers that stood on either side of her mother's palanquin had looked at her. _

_Her mother_…_Her Royal Majesty Queen Serenity I of the Moon Kingdom's Silver Millennium was dead. She had finally succumbed to the mysterious illness that had eaten at her in the way the physician had predicted—right over her heart. _

_The princess had almost missed the last breath she had taken in the early morning. If it had not been for Luna waking her up in time, she would have lost the opportunity to say goodbye, to whisper words of love…and to see her mother's smile one last time as she told her of Endymion's proposal. _

_The kingdom mourned and the princess helped prepare her mother's body for the ceremonial funeral pyre. She washed her body free of the smells of death; gave color to her eyelids, cheeks, and lips; styled her silver-white hair in its familiar pigtails; and she dressed and wrapped her in the finest of clothing and fabrics: muslim and black gossamer to hide the blemish of her sickness on her skin. The crown her mother had worn during life now rested atop her abdomen, and the porcelain, unblemished fingers of her right hand curled around the gaps in its design. The gold coins only served to remind her of what she could not pretend: the things she loved most about her mother—her grace and smile; her tinkling laughter; the power and love that shone in her eyes—were now to be memories. _

_Tears slipped from her eyes. She wanted to be alone, to not have to do this._

_"I am ready." She said in a voice that was raspy after days spent sobbing and crying. "Please: let us begin."_

_The front doors of the palace parted and the light of the early morning poured in. Serenity's gaze went downward to avoid the glare of the sun. The gold on her mother's face gleamed and twinkled as it met her eye. _

_The torch she gripped was lit by unseen hands; the warmth of its flames lapped at her wan, tired face. _

_The outside world met her face-to-face: Moon noblemen, dressed in all white and adorned with gold, stood on either side of the converging bridge that connected the capital city to the outskirts. Their collective opalescence was the complete opposite to the plain, shapeless dress she wore. A collective sound of sadness escaped the lips of the first that saw their deceased monarch laid out before them. A few waved ornate bells in the tradition of mourning the dead; others crumpled to the ground and wailed, pulling at their clothing and hair; and others touched her mother's cold, porcelain skin._

_For a moment, a feeling of foreboding went down her spine and seized her heart, but she could not dwell on it. _

_She stepped forward.  
_

* * *

"…It seems like just yesterday we were all in our primary school classes coloring in picture drawings of the royal family—although with the princess here, 'yesterday' doesn't seem like the right word we should use. Centuries maybe, but not yesterday." The speaker's words brought on a chuckle amongst the politicians and more flashes from the photographers' cameras. "Princess, I hope you aren't staring out at all of us and wondering if there was ever a time when we were young. I promise you: it was longer than yesterday, but shorter than a century." More laughter.

Serena gave a wide, good-natured grin. It was as if she was being debuted again in this onion-domed room with its mahogany benches with green leather cushions, gold-trimmed walls, and low-hanging chandeliers—the stares of the men and women that she'd been learning about; the champagne-white satin dress and roses in her hair buns; and the mark on her forehead that had been painted gold. But so many things had changed from that evening all those months ago.

Parliament had accepted her request. Artemis had snuck back into the Moon Palace in the dead of night—long after the elders had given up on their mission to halt word upon his return. She had read over the line, _"We of Parliament are in the belief that Serena Tsukino shares in our endeavors to be the guiding light and voice of the Moon and its people in our Solar System,"_ before starting at its beginning. And then she had counted and deciphered the signatures of every politician who had signed the second page. And _then_ she had made the white-haired man recount everything that had happened. It was close to daylight when she had finally gone to sleep.

The Elders of the Moon were still having meetings—only this time no one knew what they were talking about. Guards weren't allowed to stand outside the door of the room where they met, and apparently, all talks stopped when the kitchen staff came in with meals. The calls and requests from the other royals for her company had also stopped: none of them wanted to fall out of their—Aglecta's—favor.

She really was an outsider now. Like Endymion…

_Endymion…_

…If there was anything she now knew, it was that her feelings towards the Prince of Earth weren't entirely her own. And those feelings were stronger than any other she had ever had, almost desperate—they needed him near; they needed her to find him. To _be_ with him. All her thoughts came back to him.

And she thought about him a lot because…because she liked him. She wondered about the things he was doing at any given moment; she wanted to talk to him; her mind replayed her standing beside him in the rose garden over and over again; she daydreamed about kissing him. Just thinking about him brought on a type of warmth that started in the center of her forehead and spread throughout the rest of her body; she even felt it in her toes.

Luna brought sealed letters to her on his behalf. The first one he'd given her had come when she was in the meeting room with the princess' larger-than-life portrait. Reading the Politics section of the newspaper on Artemis' suggestion seemed less important when she saw her own name on the envelope. She had felt herself blush as she read the words

_'I, Prince Enydmion of the Planet Earth, pledge my support to you, Serena Tsukino, ascending ruler of the Moon Kingdom. It is my hope and endeavor to be a source of aid to you as you continue your eventual undertaking as monarch. I am available whenever you are in need.'_

in his voice.

Another followed soon after:

_'I must be honest: I have not forgotten your telling me of the memory-dream you had of Her Royal Majesty. Have you always had these visions?'_

And when she had replied:

_'It is interesting that the headaches you used to have so often have lessened since that night. I think that their recent alleviation and your more detailed memories are related. …Have you tried to bring them up on your own since then?'_

She hadn't, but now she sat up in her bed in the early moments of the morning, before Luna came to wake her up, trying to think. But she seemed to only be good at was closing her eyes and remembering the memory-dream of him declaring his love to Princess Serenity.

It frustrated her. If only she could talk to him…

_If only I could see him…_

…He had been at the docks when she was boarding the navel ship taking her to the mainland. He stood under the palace arches, handsome in a black suit with red trim and a black-and-red bowtie, and watching her watch him. He had rested his hand over his heart and smiled at her in that way he did. Her face had turned hot. Artemis' call was the only reason why she turned away from him; she just kept wishing that she could go to him, take his hand in hers, and bring him with her.

"Is there anything you would like to say before we begin?"

She blinked away her thoughts and formed a smile. "…Yes. I want to say that I am honored by your kindness, and I will work hard to reach your expectations of me as ruler.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Your Royal Highness' presence is requested in the palace."

Endymion had only just returned from the docks and come back to his suite before the two royal guardsmen standing on the other side had rapped their knuckles on the door. Now, he stared at the grip both men had on the handles of their swords and…the dull, lifeless and faraway look in their gazes.

The words were repeated to him in the same firm, no-nonsense tone.

And he acquiesced.

_I have been waiting for this_, he reminded himself. _I have needed to do this. No other solution has presented itself. _

Endymion could no longer dwell on his memory. Diamond's eyes, that strange image of them, were now a constant presence in his recollections. It was as if the image of the Moon-born royal's eyes had branded themselves in his mind to hide the truth from him and endeavored to thwart his attempts. The physical pain of his headaches now left him kneeling on the ground of his suite with clenched teeth and his fingers pressed against his forehead. Serenity's words,

_"…You are learning the answer…"_

always echoed through his mind in those moments, but despite them, he felt the answers he sought were no longer his to find.

_"…_P_romise__ me you will take care of Serena…"_

The prince had given his word to protect her, and his only recourse in doing so was to help her find the memories she needed. He had not wished to do so from afar; each letter he had written had brought the familiar thrum in his chest, a…_desire_ for her laugh, for her smile, for the look in her eyes… But it was better for him to be in the shadows. He did not want to be the reason the elders further spurred to action against her. And Diamond was always watching…

Until today. He could no longer stand his emotions and so stood out on the docks to see her off from afar. He had watched her turn to face him. The pulse of his beating heart had thundered in his ears and reverberated through his veins; it echoed the sureness that he could not act on: that he was to be next to her and help her make things right again…that _he_ would be right again with her.

…He was unsurprised to be standing before Diamond's suite. The men accompanied him through the mirrored hallway; unlike him, they remained unaffected by their infinite reflections. They separated only when they all entered into the drawing room: the one that had walked on his right took a position beside the three back windows; the other stood sentry at the corridor's opening.

Diamond, dressed in all white as always, stood in the very center of the room…and beside him was Aglecta in a dress that reminded him of the shed skin of a snake. The elderly woman did not raise her head as the prince approached; her eyes remained fixed on an indeterminate spot on the floor.

"…You both have finally reappeared out of thin air."

Diamond's mouth curled into a smile, but his eyes held no traces of mirth. "The meetings and talks are now over, and I am happy to say they reached a decision on how to respond to the girl's—"

_"Serena."_

"…Her actions and her alliance with Parliament. I thought you would like to hear of it firsthand: it would be…_foolish_ of them to start a rift with an entity comprised of the kingdom's very subjects, but their authority cannot afford any more youthful rebellions."

"She has made fools out of us all," Aglecta said suddenly. Her voice was airy and detached, lacking its usual belligerent tone. She made a motion with her arms, as if to slam her palms against a table and craned her neck from side to side. "How can _we, _the elders of the Moon Kingdom," she rapped her long nails against her bony chest, "who have served the kingdom since the age of Queen Serenity allow this _girl_ to command _us_?" She lapsed into eerie silence, and Endymion's brow furrowed at her erratic behavior and words, at her mention of the other missing elders.

Diamond remained unbothered. "They have decided that she is to be married. To me."

Endymion felt his heart skip a beat. "…To you…"

"I was to be ruler before her appearance. With the remaining question of her lineage and the gaze of Parliament now upon us, it is thought that I would be best suited to—"

"Control her better than the elders could do themselves." A headache was forming behind his eyes. _This feels…familiar…_

A chuckle. "Call it whatever you like; just know that she is no longer your worry."

_"_Pro_mise__ me you will take care of Serena..."_

"She will be my worry so long as I am here."

Diamond smirked. "You truly believe yourself to be here for much longer? …Have you never wondered why I entreated the Elders of the Moon to allow you to stay after the attack in the first place?"

_"…You are learning the answer…"_

He tried to hold his gaze to the Moon-born royal, but a sharp pain pulsed through his mind. He was fighting against the compulsion to utter the familiar answer. "It is," warmth pulsed within his chest and up his throat, "…not because we are friends."

"No," Diamond said seriously. "It is not."

"Can you not…_hear_ the idle talk swirling around us?!" Aglecta's arm rose as if it were pulled on a string and stirred the air in a slow circle. "The blatant disrespect the prince continues to show us? He has done exactly as—"

"Be silent," the Moon royal said to the elderly woman. "It is because you served a purpose, Endymion…a higher purpose. I knew that out of all the reasons why Serenity would return, she would come back for you. …Somehow, some way, she would return to _you_, and with her would come the Silver Millennium Crystal."

_The crystal…_ His headache worsened; the warmth was beginning to spread through his torso. "The crystal…it disappeared a century ago."

"The crystal _exists_, and the girl is all the proof I need."

"You must say that the girl is all the proof I need," Aglecta murmured dreamily.

Diamond turned to the woman, anger flashing in his eyes. "I told you to be silent."

"…Say it again, Aglecta—repeat it to me: 'The girl is all the proof I need.' …Good, good…" Her brow furrowed and her lips curled into a snarl. "…The girl is all the proof _I_ need, and _I_ will _not_ wait for the rest of you to come to that realization! She is what we have been waiting for. And if you would rather be enamored with her pretty face and not undertake our collective duty, _I_—I will take the initiative to find…" She sighed, as if exhausted. "…We…we promised the crystal."

_"…the answer…"_

Endymion stared at her, at the anger he knew so well. "…To whom did you promise the crystal?"

She clasped her hands together. "…the voice..."

"What voice?"

For the first time since he had arrived, The Elder of the Moon lifted her head towards him. Her dark eyes were dull and unfocused. "The _voice_," she emphasized like a child.

_"What voice?!"_

Diamond whirled the woman around and pressed his fingers into the hollows of her cheeks. "Is defiance truly in your nature? I have commanded you to be silent, parrot! Do not make me repeat myself."

Endymion stepped forward and grabbed the sleeve of the woman's dress for her attention. A small, brief flash of pain pulsed through his mind as the Moon royal glared at him. "Let. Her. Go."

_The crystal_…a long thrum of warmth spread from his head and body and through his nerves…_the crystal_…_the answer…_ "Aglecta…who is the voice?"

_"…You __will__ let her go, Endymion!"_

Another violent pang in his mind made him let go. He stumbled backwards, but he would not be stopped. "Who is the voice, Aglecta?!"

"The voice…" she said.

_"…Who is the voice?!"_

"The voice is…the one who desires the crystal—"

Diamond's other hand pressed against the back of the woman's head and he twisted her head.

There was the quiet _snap_ of her neck, and her body fell to the carpet with a thud.

As much as he had hated and despised her, Endymion fell to his knees before the woman. His fingers searched for a pulse, but felt nothing. "…Dead."

"Good riddance."

The prince grit his teeth.

Diamond scoffed. "You so easily forget the nature of the woman you kneel beside… In a way, her death occurred long before this moment. It is only now that she outlives her usefulness."

"…She has been dead before now?" Endymion repeated. The war within him…the pain he had felt for so long was…waning at the feeling of warmth that coursed through his body. His hands pressed to the carpet; he was barely able to keep his eyes open.

The tips of Diamond's white shoes appeared mere inches from his hands. "…'Hypnosis' may be a better-suited term… She simply appeared at my door one night, and she was mine to command: To be in the places I could not be; say the things I could not say… Aglecta was merely a catalyst…"

The warmth concentrated on the middle of his forehead.

"Make no mistake: the old hag has always been unpleasant—_always_." Diamond continued. "…Ramblings used to empty out of that puckered mouth of hers from time to time. She both revered and envied the queen's bond with the crystal… She may have very well turned against the kingdom on her own accord if it had proven fruitful to being able to even _touch_ the crystal."

_"…the answer…"_

_The answer to why…the crystal disappeared the night of the attack…_

His eyes closed.

There was the imprint of Diamond's glare behind his eyes—and a glowing, white light. Light the color of which he had seen before in the Mare Serenitias with Serena hovering above him; in her eyes when he first laid eyes on her all those months ago. It burned the edges of those eyes, stripped it away in bits and pieces…

And then those eyes were gone, as if they had never really existed.

…He was seeing something different…he was seeing the memory he dreaded above all others: the day he had died…

_The Moon's smoky sky…the strewn bodies of the senshi and the guardsmen of the Moon…the knight he had suddenly engaged with, the one dressed in all silver with violet eyes…the pierce of the sword that sliced through his skin and bones and organs… The feeling of his body meeting the ground, his hands pressing against the wound on his abdomen, trying to keep his life from slipping through his fingers… Serenity kneeling over his body to do the same…the pearls of tears that fell from her eyes…the way they felt on his brow… _

…_And then the sudden image of Diamond from that night a century ago. The Moon royal he had grown to mistrust and hate more than the rest, more than Aglecta herself, kneeing before him and uttering two words:_ _"…My __friend__..."_

The prince's eyes opened.

Diamond stood before him, his stare fixed upon him in surprise. "…The imprint is gone."

_Hatred._ As strong as it was the first time felt it towards this man ran through the Earth-born prince's veins.

Endymion's fist connected with the royal's face. Again. And again. Diamond stumbled, and the prince grabbed him by his shirt's collar. "You are the reason for everything that happened! Aglecta calling for the act of regency; the control and intimidation she exerted over the other elders—over Serenity—was done at your command." He wished for his grip to be tightened. "…_You_ are the reason for the attack against the Moon Kingdom a century ago. The kingdom was destroyed because of _you_… Serenity sacrificed herself because of _you! _

"You took her away." The words he uttered were too much for him to bear. "_You_ are the reason why she is not here! _You__ are the reason she is gone!_"

It was only the sound of metal slicing the air and the feel of something sharp poking against his spine and heavy, even breathing that stopped him from going further. The guard that had stood at the corridor had moved from his place, sword in hand.

Despite the bruises already beginning to appear on his pale skin and the blood running from his nose, the Moon royal's face was still smug. He freed himself. "You are a hundred years too late, prince, to again try striking the blow to kill me."

"It would be worth it to see you dead and gone."

A scoff. "…And you are wrong: Serenity died because of _you_."

"Because of your jealousy towards me."

The self-satisfied expression turned to loathing. "Because of the ball and chain you were prepared to bind her to!"

"The only so-called prison she would have been placed in would have been made of your design. If only she had let you, if only she had not been so fearful of you!"

The royal laughed bitterly. "If only she had not been so naïve as to be enamored with you." He swiped at the blood dripping down his lip. "A prison _I_ would have put her in? Why would I have done that?! Everything about Serenity's life had been about the crystal: her guardians protected her solely for the sake of protecting the crystal; the elders were willing to agree with Aglecta's tirades and viciousness for the sake of controlling of the crystal; and the queen herself was willing to tie her daughter's life to it. The queen served as a reminder of the life Serenity would have from the day she possessed the crystal!

"I…I wanted to free her. To unshackle her from her…predetermined fate… The power I used was for that purpose only." He stared at his hands and rubbed his fingertips. "The purpose of making tyrants fall. …The queen had always been sick; the crystal slowed her aging and the progression of what lay dormant in her lungs… I touched her but once in a moment of weakness she had and willed the sickness to progress inside her faster."

"And now you have killed again."

Laughter. "I have already said that treasonous dog fulfilled her purpose. As have you…as will that girl."

Endymion's blue eyes locked with the royal's. "What purpose does Serena serve to you?"

"What purpose does the girl serve to _you_, prince? You have played champion for that girl, that shade, almost since her arrival… You have turned your loyalty and affections towards a girl whose only redeeming feature is her appearance. How fickle your feelings are."

"If that is true…then why are you so set to marry her."

"Because I wish to see the crystal gone. The crystal is an abomination and it has taken enough from me," he said bitterly. "She possesses it somehow…if I am to destroy her to destroy it, I _will_ do so."

Anger surged within the prince's veins. "I will not allow it."

Scornful laughter. "I have already told you that what happens to her is no longer your concern."

"Serena _is_ my concern." He said those words and believed in them wholeheartedly. "If you believe that she has the crystal, then her safety is my concern and protecting her is my purpose. Until my dying breath."

Hard laughter. "Until your dying breath?

"…So be it then."

Endymion watched as the skin of Diamond's forehead began to spread apart lengthwise. He thought what had happened next, the appearance of a newly formed-oval and the movement of a thick black ring in its space was a trick of the mind. But it was not. And then he realized what he was staring at:

An eye.

* * *

_A/N: Happy New Year, everyone! Chapter "XI" is done. This last scene is done. *victory dance*_

_This final confrontation between Diamond and Endymion, like Serena's scene in the Mare Serenitias, has been at the forefront of my mind since I first started writing __Rebirth__ and there were so many things to pack in—I can't believe it came out better than I imagined it._

_Thank you, October Autumn, for your PM! I hope that it was worth the wait! _

_R&amp;R_


	12. XII

Glossary:

_Ofuda_: Japanese charms, wards, or scriptures said to bear good luck and are sold in Shinto shrines or temples. It is safe to assume that the ofuda referenced bear the symbols for Mars' "Akuryo Taisan" (_"Evil Spirit, Disperse!"_) attack.

_(Source: Sailor Moon Wiki) _

* * *

XII

* * *

_The attack started with everything around her shaking: the ground below her heels suddenly becoming unsteady; the chandeliers above her head tinkling violently, dangerously. From the other side of the grand ballroom's entryway, she had turned behind her in panic to bear witness to the ceiling collapsing. _

_ A gust of wind pushed against her face and dress; the sound it made echoed through the hallway._

_The dust settled, and the princess saw the blood splattered against the walls and across the floor…and the broken bodies of the elders and noblemen, the guardsmen along the perimeter, and even the servers and handmaidens crushed underneath the rubble. There came no sound from the inside, no movement she could detect from where she stood in paralyzed shock._

_Her eyes looked heavenward to the hole in the ceiling and saw streaks of unnatural purple color amongst the stars themselves. A chill went through her bones as the color pulsated, as if some horrible, living thing lay in wait just for her._

_Her senshi's entreaties filled her ears, but she could not move. __It was Endymion who finally, urgently guided her away._

_Her heartbeat thundered in her ears during the panicked run through the hallways. Her senshi pushed through the swarm of royal guardsmen that moved from their posts along the corridors and suites to defend the castle and kingdom, and Endymion, his hand tight around hers, followed behind them. They ran further into the palace for her safety and found their means of shelter: a small, windowless room in the northeastern wing. _

_Serenity watched as her protectors moved through their confusion and dismay. Mars stood before its entrance, ofudas in hand, murmuring a continuous line of prayer. She was joined by Jupiter, who had stopped impatiently pacing the carpet long enough to help her fellow soldier place the scriptures against the door for protection. Mercury and Venus sat in a far-off corner of the room, the former's fingers pressing against her earpiece, and the latter straining to listen with furrowed brow and fingers clenched tightly around the rubies of her rope chain._

_Time passed and sweat poured down their temples in the rising heat of the room. _

_The castle continued to shake, and Serenity trembled each time. Every tear that fell from her eyes spoke of the guilt that already ate at her: she had not been able to stop the deaths inside the palace from happening; worse was surely taking place on the mainland where her people lived. Everyone in the kingdom suffered for her helplessness and her weakness. Those thoughts turned in her head over and over and over, but she did not venture to speak them aloud: she did not want to be comforted and told otherwise, s__he had no wish to be absolved from blame._

_"Hello?! …Hello?" Mercury suddenly stood, moments after another crash. Her ocean-blue eyes met with their panicked, serious faces before landing on Venus' in particular. "I have lost communication with the commander of the eastern defense. It is likely that," she hesitated to say the words, "they have fallen in battle." __She drew in a shaky breath. "…It will not be long before the enemy crosses the bridge and reaches the palace."_

_Venus stood in silence and stillness for only a moment before freeing her chain from around her waist. "…We will go to the front of the palace and join the defenses gathered there."_

_The others nodded in compliance. _

_Serenity looked at them all in disbelief. "No. No! No, you ca—"_

_"The city has fallen. We do not know if a distress signal was sent off the Moon, and if so, where it went and when it will be answered." Her eyes were solemn as they looked at Serenity. "The palace is the only remaining stronghold, and we," she gestured to the other three, "may truly be the only chance of retaliation left. We need stop our enemies' entry._

_"…You will be safe here."_

_Serenity froze at her words. "Venus—"_

_"I have thought about this since we came in this room: you are the only surviving member of the royal family, and your protection is paramount now. It is our duty as your soldiers and warriors to protect you. And the crystal…its safety is tied to your life. We must act." _

_"You cannot go out there!"_

_The Venetian took a shaky breath. "Serenity… This is our duty; it is why we are here."_

_"Stop saying that! You are not here just to protect me, so stop saying that!"_

_"I…!" T__he look Venus gave her was almost angry. "I cannot stop saying it just because you do not want to hear it! I…am a Sailor Senshi; your life is my responsibility! I am bound to defend you and to protect your life! I cannot run from it or ignore it! And…" __Her voice cracked and a tear fell from her eye. __"And the Moon is my home. I want it to be safe; I want you to be safe and happy." The hand that wiped her face clean rested over her heart, and she bowed so deeply that her knee touched the floor. "And if my stopping those people who want to hurt you ensures that, then I will do everything to make it so."_

_The others, who and stood and witnessed the exchange, followed suite and bowed as well. _

_Tears welled in her eyes._

_Endymion stepped from beside her. "If I may__…t__he Moon has become home for me as well. And Serenity is the most important person to me. I, like you, cannot stand by and watch everything crumble, nor allow harm to come to her. _

_"I will come with you."_

_Serenity felt a lump grow in her throat. _

_The leader of the senshi stood. "…You have neither sword nor shield, Prince Endymion," she said by way of response._

_"I will gain one from our fallen comrades." _

_It was Jupiter who broke the silence once more: "…If you possess the proficiency to use any sword you gain on the battlefield, then I will not mind fighting alongside you."_

_He nodded towards her. "I would be honored."_

_"Endymion, please..." the princess' voice was hoarse, "please do not go." Her hand clasped his, "You cannot go—think of, think of the things we said earlier. What we told the elders and everyone in the ballroom before…" the words died on her lips._

_She felt the touch of his hand against her cheek. "I meant every word that I said: __I will defend your home, your kingdom. And I will help you rebuild everything. We will bring life to the Moon once more. Your people and the very Solar System will see you as queen; never again will they have reason to question your strength._

_"And we will be married."_

_Determination shined within those eyes of his, and Serenity knew that nothing she could say would convince him—any of them._

_They had all made their decision, and it had all been made for her sake. _

_Her Sailor Senshi hugged her tightly, whispering words of their bond and enduring friendship. "My charms will ensure your safety while we are away. No harm shall come to you." Mars said, the last to give her parting words. And one by one, they turned away from her, wiping their eyes of tears. _

_Endymion held her in his arms and kissed her. Her hands clung to him, love and sadness welling inside her. "I love you. Please wait here for my return."_

_His words buzzed in Serenity's ears as she watched them all leave her behind…_

* * *

Endymion's eyes opened as the sound of palace bells ended their chiming.

He sat up, anxiousness weighing on his psyche, and his bruises smarting. There was no doubt that those bells had rung for Aglecta, but had time truly passed so quickly for the elder's funeral procession to already be taking place?

Silence grew and then the other sound, the altogether different ringing that reverberated and blended over and over again inside his head, began once more. Wordlessly, its airy echo soothed him of his fears.

"There is still time," he whispered to himself in the darkness once more. "There is still time…"

Diamond had ensured that none would ever believe him about the fate that had truly befallen Aglecta. He would never be able to explain the existence of the third eye or the power it had held over him. The prince, stripped of the use of his limbs, had been made to fall to his knees and crawl like an infant towards Aglecta's dead body. He had watched his hands reach out and wrap themselves around the elder's broken neck. And his fate was sealed in the moments the eye hid itself from plain sight once more as the guards in the room, brought out of their dull-eyed stupor, looked upon the scene and brought him down, striking him and subduing him.

More guards came, and they had carried his bruised and bleeding body across the palace grounds in the afternoon sun where the other royals could see his humiliation. Those pale noblemen and noblewomen, with delicate, pale hands lifted to their mouths, speculated about his crime aloud. Their words were a stain to his person, to his character. The prince was led to the underground dungeons adjacent to the guards' front post, and placed behind the door of a cell that had no light.

Time moved on its own accord in the darkness. Hours passed, and the prince's mind reeled with more repressed memories surrounding the day of the attack. The part of his mind he had regained seemed more intent on showing him the clear picture of the things he had forgotten: the sudden, then-inexplicable deaths of the Sailor Senshi at each other's hand, their anguished and tormented cries for forgiveness ending as they fell lifelessly to the ground…clarity of his own death, and then the sensation of warmth piercing into his chest and pouring into his heart to spread life anew: breath filling his lungs; blades of grass tickling his jawline; and the smells of blood and smoke and battle that hung in the air…

And Diamond's voice…

_"This__ is the work of the Silver Millennium Crystal?"_

…And the voice of another. A voice that carried an infinite echo… _"__Yes__. Can you not feel its power, the light that lingers long after its absence?"_

_"I do. …It is as you said."_

_"Yes, truly you now understand. Make no mistake: it is the crystal's existence that led to the deaths of the people of the Moon. Their faith in a falsehood led to their slaughter, and their punishment was fitting. It was natural and deserved, within in the design of people born to live and die. And yet—" _The voice became malicious,_ "and yet, the crystal's response was to reverse the very death it is responsible for before fleeing its own destruction…"_

_"…And what of the senshi?" Diamond asked. "Their lives ended by way of the gift you bestowed upon me, but I do not see their bodies among the others."_

_The voice paused, as if it were considering his question. "…I no longer can feel their energies here on the Moon…or in the far reaches of this universe… It seems the crystal has sought their protection as well—__Wait!" The voice paused in its monologue. "Go there."_

_The sound of footsteps across the grass ended mere inches from him. "Prince Endymion." He could hear Diamond's voice above him._

_"Does he yet breathe?!" The voice had neared as well. The sound of its voice was louder, much more infinite than before. _

_"Yes," he felt the edge of the Moon royal's foot dig into his side. "And the color returns to his skin."_

_The voice let out a gleeful peal of laughter. "The crystal, the protector of the Moon and its people, has brought life back into the Prince of Earth! …And the light within him shines brighter than the rest!" _

_The expression of glee seemed to agitate the royal. Endymion heard the sound of unsheathed metal. "I shall not suffer him a moment longer." _

_"Drop your sword, and cease your foolishness."_

_"He lies at my feet; the one who took what was meant for me: Death is only fitting for him and I shall return his soul to Charon's feet once more."_

_"Who are you to ignore my command, prince?" The voice spat. "Did you not hear me?! Drop your sword!" The voice now screamed. "Drop your sword!" _

_The metal fell to the ground. _

_"…Your feelings of hatred cloud your judgment. Do you fail to understand? He is proof of the princess' return. And with the princess' soul will come the crystal." _

_Endymion felt his body lift from off the ground. "Yes…proof indeed. For the crystal, in spite its power, follows the childish whims of its foolish protector. The whims to protect a man of skin and bone._

_"They will return, and we must prepare until that time. But first—awaken, prince!"_

_His eyes opened. And there, standing before him in silver armor was Diamond, his expression malevolent and loathing. But behind him, or around him, was a strange dark shadow with the intangible figure of a man, with__ two purple orbs for eyes._

_"Yes…you will be useful, indeed…"_

The memory ended with those eyes glowing brighter and brighter. He remembered the effect of their gaze so well—even when his eyes had closed, he found they had been burned behind his eyelids.

And when he had truly woken once more to learn of what became of the woman he loved, Diamond had indeed chosen a use for him: _"My friend__…__"_

Endymion fell unto his back. His temples pounded. It was usually in this moment when the prince's memories and thoughts turned to Serena. In the brief period of time he had been placed under arrest, his mind had conjured an image of her. She stood at the docks, dressed as he had last seen her. The expanse of the infinite blue water was behind her; her dress and golden hair fluttered in the wind. And her hand reached for him.

He let himself imagine acting on the desire to run to her and be next to her.

He held her hand in his, and his chest glowed as it had when he had first seen her, and the mark of the crescent moon on her forehead glowed brightly as well…

The sound in his ears reached its crescendo, and his heart responded, beating with his purpose to be with Serena.

_"It is not too late__…__" _the sound seemed to say.

"It is not too late," he uttered the words and felt its truth—

Something pulled him out of his thoughts…the sounds of fighting: yelling and banging…heavy thuds against the metal doors.

And then it all ended abruptly.

The sound of a hand rapping against the metal surfaces of doors began. "Prince Endymion! …Prince Endymion!"

He knew this voice.

He pulled himself to his knees as he heard the noise at the cell on his right. "Here!" He swallowed the bit of spit he could gather and spoke once more. "I'm here! I'm here!"

There came an exhalation of relief and the hurried, musical jingle of keys as their handler tested them in the door lock. Again and again and again, until the right one finally opened the latch.

Light poured into the darkness of the cell, and Artemis stood in its doorway. "Your Highness." The white-haired man did not waste a moment to pull him to his feet and bring him outside into the dungeon's hallway.

He was made to lean against Artemis' frame and match his stride as their path led to the outside of the dungeons. "How are you here?"

There was a sheen of sweat on the man's brow. "Luna bribed the handmaiden assigned to serve meals to you and the guards. The proceedings for the funeral has just begun and the majority of the royal guard is there." There was a serious look in the man's green eyes. "This is our only opportunity to save you.

"We must hurry."

The guards that held sentry, three in all, lay in a heap as the two men reached the stairway. "It seems my daily visits to this post created a rapport with the guards; they hesitated in striking me."

Artemis grunted with exertion at every step up; Endymion cringed with lingering pain. "Serena. Is she safe? How much…time has passed since my…arrest? What…what has become of her?"

"It has been two days. Our ship was boarded the moment it entered the docks, and Luna and I were detained in the vessel for questioning; Serena was escorted elsewhere. When we were finally freed hours later, we learned that she was betrothed to Diamond." Artemis looked at the prince to gauge if there were any signs of surprise, but found none. "We have not been allowed near her since. Both Luna and I are worked like dogs with the other servers in preparation for the funeral and the wedding."

They reached the stairway's opening, a door with a small window for viewing. Artemis' fist banged a cadence on the door, and Luna appeared. She opened the door a crack and helped her husband squeeze the prince through. He saw the gold candleholder in the woman's hand, and a guard that had been pushed underneath the post's desk.

Luna placed him in a chair. "Drink this."

"Luna," Artemis pushed the desk against the stairway door, "we do not have time!"

Anger flashed in her chocolate-brown eyes. "Do you not see the sweat on his brow, his injuries?! He _needs_ to drink something, if only for a minute!"

Cold water had never tasted so glorious. He let the liquid pass his lips without pause for air until it was finished. "…Diamond is behind Aglecta's death," he said to the couple. "He possesses…something I cannot describe."

"You would not have the time to do so. Artemis is right. Time is short and…there is somewhere else you must be if you are to be with Serena."

"…How do you know that?"

Her hand touched her heart and Artemis' did the same. "Something started calling out to us without ceasing the night of our detainment… We have heard it for days now; I close my eyes and hear and feel golden light. Serena needs you, and you need her…and that we are to help you wait for her.

"Serena is important and precious, and she is to be queen. It is our responsibility to help her; it has always been—"

The sound of banging stopped her. He looked towards the stairway's door to see the guards recovered and forcing entry.

Artemis began pushing the desk into the door again. "Luna…!"

In a flurry of yellow, the woman stood beside her husband and did the same. "Prince Endymion! We will stay here and buy time for you! You know where to go—and you must go _now_!"

Mustering the bit of strength he had gained, the prince heeded her words. There was no time to enjoy freedom. He ran across the grounds in the early morning sun, cutting through the tended grass and walkways. Light and warmth were in his chest. His feet _did_ know where to go; and his chosen path was empty of passerby. He believed himself able to hear Aglecta's mourners in the distance, their cries and wails seeming to carry in the wind.

All sounds hushed as he reached a familiar brick pathway.

He had been here before. With Serena. And it was hard to believe that so much had changed from that night he watched her levitate before his eyes.

The prince stepped into the corridor and felt the current of power swirl around him. Only this time, no force stood against him or rendered him unable to move; if anything, he felt a push forward and the guiding of his hand over the doors' carved, wooden surface.

The latch gave at the slightest pressure, and the power led his steps inside. He turned and watch them close behind him.

The power that graced the walls of the corridor had felt like a river washing over him, but here, that same power now felt like an ocean. The light of morning came through the skylight on the roof; a piece of the wall glowed in the sunlight and the paintings of animals and angels seemed to dance across its surface.

…Serena was not here…

His eyes drank in the statue of a woman in a golden dress with her hands cupped towards him. He…he yearned to step towards the image—but found he could not move.

Something was weighing him down, rooting him to the spot…

_"Endymion…"_

He looked down to see his chest _glowing_ with a silvery light. Something solid, like glass, encased his feet and calves. His fist bashed against it, hoping to free himself.

_"Endymion—"_ the voice called out to him, _"be still. __You answered my call, and you are here now. Exactly where you are meant to be_…_"_

He stopped. The encasement grew over his knees and thighs and hips. His hand pressed against it now, and he came to realize that what he felt was not glass, but something else.

_Is this…?_

The encasement grew over his arms and hips and torso and chest.

_"Endymion…You and I will wait here until she comes for you."_

"Serena…" He did not grow alarmed as it went over his temples.

_"Yes. Serena…"_

His eyes closed as he felt the encasement cover his face.

* * *

_**A/N: **__Nothing is better than a chapter coming together. Life finally slowed down for me to finish this draft and type it up. _

_My original intention was to have a chapter solely for the attack on the Moon, and then another for the fallout of Aglecta's death, one that would include the Elders forcing Serena's hand and making her agree to marriage with Diamond. And while part of me wanted it to happen, I felt the pacing for this was so slow and dialogue-heavy that it didn't work. Speaking honestly, I think not having Serena appear is kinda cool. _

_I've wanted Luna and Artemis to do that jailbreak since chapter "IV."_

_Finally revealed the reason why the Sailor Senshi do not appear in the present—at least, not on the Moon... And also gave them some time to shine in the flashback all of the feels—edited and revised every night for a week._

_R&amp;R _


	13. XIII

_"My dear Reborn Child. We will act today__…_

_"For all—our friends and our enemies—to witness."_

* * *

XIII

* * *

The elders had picked out her dress: white tulle with a strapless bodice embroidered with pearls and a skirt that billowed out around her. Pearl clips had been added to her hair bangs, and the ends of her pigtails had been given soft curls; with her shoes on, she was about four inches taller. Even her skin glowed from the silvery body shimmer that had been applied.

To all the handmaidens assigned to add rose oil to her bathwater and dress her on this morning, her wedding day, she looked like a bride.

But standing alone in front of her bedroom mirrors, Serena only saw the change in her pale blue eyes.

She had woken up feeling…different—which wasn't _all_ that surprising, but this time had truly felt different from all those other times. She felt…complete. No more of a separation between who she was, and that other knowing part that had felt so different from the rest of her.

She was Serena Tsukino, and she now knew all the secrets that had been kept from her before.

…And she knew she needed to act today.

_"We see the repeat of our history in you, your words, and your actions. And it has made us___…nervous to _witness those things___—particularly, _your brazen act of rebellion and alignment with Parliament. But with Aglecta's death…and the circumstances surrounding it, the Prince of Earth…we can no longer allow this to continue." _The elders' words from three nights ago, uttered in the midst of the announcement of Aglecta's death and allegations of Endymion's crime and their…closeness…came flooding back to mind. That had probably been the first time she had seen The Elders of the Moon as individuals instead of a flock that listened to everything Aglecta said. They all looked so tired and somehow lost without the belligerent elder to speak for them; their skin had grayed in the hours she had been gone.

_"We cannot and will not allow that history, to repeat itself any further. If you are our protector, if you are here to do what you have led up to believe Princess Serenity could not, then do so. But let us guide you. Let our words be the reason you move our kingdom towards the future. And let us guide you away from the words of a man, an outsider, whose deception led us to harm so long ago and threatened to do so now._

_"We beseech this of you. And demand it of you. And if you refuse, we promise to act against you."_

Maybe it was because of that that she agreed. They didn't want things to be "different." That "different" was what had led to the attack, and everything they had done since then was to keep the pieces of the kingdom together.

But things were already different. She stared at herself, knowing that what had happened at the funeral yesterday, when the fire from her torch caught on Aglecta's funeral wrappings and she had felt her crescent-moon mark get hot, had only been the last of a chain of necessary events…

_Her body had crumpled to the ground, and the world around her was spinning and darkening around the corners of her eyes…when she had spoke his name: "Endymion."_

_"Prince Endymion is safe."_ the voice said._ "He sleeps now and waits for you to awaken him… He knows, as I do, that your time and your purpose is nigh." _

_Then there was in-between moment when she saw the sad, scary memory of Princess Serenity's from the attack on the Moon and its secret..._

_When the teenager had opened her eyes to see guardsmen and the elders hovering above her, she automatically knew that she was different. And they had all felt something change too: because of their hands…every last one of them had their hands pressed over their hearts and looked scared and worried. Like they weren't sure if everyone else could feel the glow burning inside their chests._

_But she noticed Diamond standing outside of the circle of bodies. His own hands hung at his sides; his eyes were on hers, and their gazes held even as she was scooped up and carried back to her private quarters…_

That was different, too.

Serena took in a resolute breath, and moved away from the mirror. For a moment, it just felt like she was going into battle.

And then she realized she was.

* * *

Her walk to the grand ballroom was flanked by three guardsmen on both her left and right sides. A white carpet was underfoot, and white rose petals were sprinkled across the fibers and its either side. They, like her, kept their heads straightforward in a rehearsed move, one she had been made to learn in those three days in between preparation for the Aglecta's funeral. Every time the young girl stared out the corner of her eyes to catch glimpses of them, she noticed each kept a hand on the hilt of their sword.

Her own hands tightly gripped the bouquet of flowers she had been given.

The procession turned the corner, and she was at the entry into the grand ballroom. It had gone under another change that was different form the Coronation Announcement and her debut. Chairs had been set up on either side of the carpet and angled in diagonals; tall vases of white chrysanthemums and roses placed on tall columns stood on the end of each row.

Everybody had switched places from how they were in the beginning when everything began. The royals, dressed and bejeweled in gold, sat in their assigned seats, their conversations mixing with the sounds of hearts and strings. More guards stood around the perimeter of the ballroom. The Elders of the Moon sat in the front two sections. And for the first time during her procession, Serena turned her head and saw the reporters seated on the Mezzanine.

She thought about the night of the Coronation Announcement and her dad in his rented tuxedo. _I wonder if he's up there…_

Everything led to the center of the ballroom where the stage stood underneath the ceiling painting of the full moon. The steps leading to the platform had ropes of flowers and ribbons in their crevices; the basin where she and Diamond were to perform the nuptial bathing ceremony, the sprinkling of water over each other's hair in the tradition of the kingdom, was in its center, framed by more ropes of roses and soft lights.

And there was Diamond, dressed in pure white. Except for his missing cape, he looked the same as he did the first time she had seen him.

The music halted at the sight of her, and then changed into "The Wedding March."

Conversations paused.

The congregation collectively turned their heads towards her and stood, one after another. Their arms opened in a welcoming gesture.

"You: You who stands before us!" The elder the others had decided to preside over everything, the rotund one, said in a booming voice. "Not born into our Moon's loving touch or imbued in the blood of our ancestors, but wedded in the purpose to further our glory into the future. Step forth into your intended's arms. He stands to receive you with his embrace; he stands to receive you.

"Your old life and old ways are done, and your life as one of our own, one of the Moon and its kingdom in this glorious year, begins with the fall of the sun and our darling Moon's rebirth in the night.

"Come forth! …Come forth!"

The tip of her heel sunk into the ground as she neared the altar. Faint clicks from cameras above, and half-murmurs from the royals in praise of the speech and her beauty and clothing hit her ears. Her heart was speeding up inside her chest and thundering in her ears. Someone murmured, "She looks so stricken—like a rabbit!"

Diamond stared at her with a soft look in his eye, and his arms stretched like the noblemen around her. Ready to embrace her.

And then came the sound.

The bell reverberating over and over into one long echo…a thousand voices rising from a space that she was connected to, yet so far beyond her.

_"Do not be fearful, my Reborn Child of the Moon." _the voice said. _"I am nearer than your heart, and I am here to guide it on this day._

_"Our time has come. Stand strong."_

She stopped walking.

And dropped her flowers. "No."

The elder's eyes, so tiny in comparison with his round, rosy cheeks widened. _"Excuse me?"_

It seemed the sound of her refusal was traveling slow because there was a delayed reaction from the witnesses around her. So, she said it again: "No!"

Diamond blinked once, twice, the look of happiness in his eyes falling away.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Another elder sputtered.

"Diamond is the enemy." More gasps of surprise and harsh words were called out, and so she repeated herself: "He is my enemy, and he is the enemy of the Moon Kingdom. If I marry him, like he wants me to do, the kingdom will be in danger. I refuse."

"What possesses you to slander Prince Diamond's name?!" The elder that stood beside the Moon royal demanded. "Have you forgotten your reason for standing before us today?! Have you forgotten that your reign, your being queen by us, your people, depends on your marriage to him?"

He stepped forward. "Everything I have ever done has been for the purpose of honoring the Moon Kingdom." His voice was low and chilling. "I have given my lifetime in service to its royal family. And when you appeared to us, I wholeheartedly embraced my responsibility to guide you—I, _even_ _now_, stand to take my place as your husband! To legitimize you as our ascending queen when no other, solid proof of who you are exists!

"…Is this because of the Prince of Earth? _Prince_ _Endymion_?!" He said the name with loathing. Serena gave him no answer and he continued. "If there is anyone who is an enemy—a _danger_, it is he. _He_ manipulated the princess' feelings and led to the end of peace in our kingdom!

"He was welcomed to stay by my words, my _kindness_ towards an outsider, only to again manipulate you behind closed doors. And you have been well deceived. The truth has been revealed to you, and yet you gladly continue to believe in the lies he told you, whatever falsehoods they may be.

"So again, you are asked: what proof do you have against _me_ to make those allegations? What evidence do you possess?"

Serena didn't speak for a few moments. "…I don't have any." The grin that spread on Diamond face faltered at the sight of her: light enveloping her body; her hair raising and floating around her. Warmth spread through her body, and forehead glowed—she was _making_ the crescent-moon on her head glow.

And then she raised her own arms.

Everyone in the wedding pews began to gasp and exclaim; a few even fell to their knees. All their eyes were aglow, and all of them held their hands over their chests.

Except for the Moon royal.

_"See what I have seen," _the teen said, but her voice was different, a blend of one thousand. _"See what the Child of the Moon and I bore witness to that day…"_

…_the room where its power washed over the beautiful walls that contained It…where It had asked to be laid in rest__…__where It now lay in wait…_

…_a change…the feeling of new, young hands cradling It…the sound of a beating heart, one that beat in fear and desperation and loneliness…this was the heart of the new queen, the ruler It had seen once before in a future that only it could bear witness to__—__for only It, in the perusal of "Time" itself could stand constant…the catalyst of what was meant to change for the sake of the future and all its possibilities…_

_"Serenity"_

_The Child of the Moon_

…_the utterance of what weighed on her heart—a wish…one that was so great it was just beyond what It was able to do in this time, in this moment_—_but not impossible…_

_not at all impossible__…__with the proper __sacrifice_

_…It shattered itself for her and her wish…It halted the hearts of the other Children, and gathered the souls of The Child of Earth and The Ones Blessed By the Plants…_

…_the wish, the great wish for change, was granted… _

_It and The Child and the Blessed Ones were leaving to sleep and be strong once more, and as It made to disappear, It contemplated the ideas of death and rebirth for the first time in all its existence—_

_then came the other child, The One Who Served Darkness, dressed in silver and imbued with a Third Eye…_

_It spread its light, the light now shared between It and the Child of the Moon, and It pushed towards the future…_

The grand ballroom came back to the people's consciousness once more, and it was like everyone had had their heads dunked underwater and were coming up for air: there were gasps and heavy breathing and, from a few, tears.

Diamond looked at the expressions of horror and surprise directed at him, and then turned to face the elder that stood on the stage. The aged man's need to take flight was so sudden that he tripped and fell, toppling the basin beside him as he crawled away.

Water trickled down the steps.

The guards that had escorted Serena now stepped forward, their hands on the hilt of their swords and killing intent in their eyes. Their weapons were unsheathed. Royals around them gasped and pushed themselves towards the painted walls, careful to not get caught in the fray.

He chuckled at the very sight of it all.

And then he stopped. "I suppose there is no use in hiding it anymore." The skin on his forehead stretched and tore open to reveal the eye she had seen in the memory. It was so gross as it moved side to side and focused on her. "But now that you have exposed it for all to see, what do you think yourself capable of doing to me?"

His body lunged forward and the guards responded in kind, but Diamond was faster: his hand grasped the closest man to him by the neck and pushed him to the marble floor. There was a sound of a bone cracking. The soldier didn't move. The second received a blow to the neck, one that twisted his head clear around.

That guard fell as well, silenced forever.

Everyone else in the room reacted. The other soldiers with their weapons at the ready, only to suddenly stopped in their tracks. Serena felt her heart stop and her stomach turn.

The eye moved around and glowed a sickly mix of purple and red, and their arms twisted until there was the sound of bones snapping at random intervals. They screamed and their swords dropped to the ground in disharmonious clatter. Their bodies followed, but were pushed by invisible hands into the vases and abandoned rows of chairs.

More water from the vases fell.

Diamond's footsteps reached the top of the white carpet and Serena took a step back to put space between them. Their arms rose at the same time, the Moon royal's hands framing his eye, and the sixteen-year-old's spreading like a bird's, the muscles in her arms taut. Spheres of lights formed around her.

_"Now."_

The spheres of light surrounded him and dissipated his attack before hardening into something like glass over his legs, pinning him. The glass spread quickly over his body and the carpeted floor in a circle, crushing petals and water. Serena's hands slowly rotated and became claws as she pantomimed raising a heavy weight overhead, but what she had wanted to happen worked: the glass shot up and grew towards the ceiling.

Her enemy was trapped.

She fell to her knees. She was already exhausted.

She came to her feet and turned to face the ageless elite. They all looked at her waiting for her to tell them what to do, caught between confusion about what was happening in front of their faces and unvoiced desire for her to save them.

Frantically, Serena kicked off her shoes. "Run," she said to the congregation. "EVERYBODY _RUN!_"

Chaos erupted. The guards carried off their wounded and their dead, and scores of others ran into the palace hallway as well, forming a huge circle to avoid running into the girl that stood steadfast before them. "SERENA! SE~RENA!" She turned to find herself staring at her dad, who was rushing downstairs from the Mezzanine. Unlike the other journalists who wore suits, he had worn a another tuxedo just for her wedding.

She smiled for a brief moment.

And then felt a shock run through her body.

Diamond's eye was distorting the space of his encasement and pieces of glass fell to the ground below in chunks.

And then it shattered.

_"We must__ find sanctuary!"_

Her heart was being tugged in the opposite direction of everyone else, past the arched windows of the ballroom and into the open space of the royal grounds. Grabbing fistfuls of her wedding gown and with the bare soles of her feet pressing unto the brick walkway and manicured lawn, she ran in the direction she was being called.

A crash sounded. She turned and paused long enough to watch that pillar breaking, the bits of glass covering the ballroom floor. Diamond's freed arms were breaking the glass into pieces and he twisted in the struggle to free his legs; his chest heaved with effort and anger. His clasped fists broke another piece. _"YOU WILL __NOT__ GET AWAY!"_ he barked. _"YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY!"_

She ran again, harder this time, through the grounds. Her heartbeat was racing; there was a tinkling sound behind her; she jumped each and every time something hit against her ankle or the back of her dress.

The yawning archway that led to the Mare Serenitias came up before her, and her heart burst as she reached the threshold. The moment her feet touched the marble floor, the living power in the corridor swirled around her, cocooned her, and yanked her forward.

The hallway walls and the painting across them passed by her in a blur.

The doors flew open and her feet touched the ground.

And then came the sound of tinkling glass. What had made her nervous from earlier had really been the shards from earlier following behind her and they tumbled and bounced their way inside the sanatorium's doors.

The doors shut with a resolute sound.

The teenager watched the shards trail their way towards her and swirl around her feet. For the first time, she noticed their shapes and sizes were all the same. She scooped a handful she gasped. They all felt so familiar, like they were a part of her. "These are pieces…! The crystal…"

_"Yes…"_

Serena looked around her. The sanatorium looked just like it had in the dream: the gold, the paintings, the statue of the Her Royal Majesty, Queen Selene, and the cushion in her hands.

And there was Endymion encased in crystal. His handsome face was calm and at peace like he was sleeping. Her hand touched the surface over his face. There were no bruises that she could see. Her fear that she had had about him and his safety was replaced with joy.

"Endymion…"

* * *

Endymion existed where time had had no meaning, where moments were both separate yet always colliding, and the future was just as much on the horizon as the past and present. The memories of Serenity's love in the past were presented to him and all around him all at once; and so, too, the events of the present that were unfolding without him, the wedding and Serena's own battle.

And yet, he was not alone.

"…_Endymion…" _that voice that came to him as a blend between his true love and many others called out to him, "_my Child of Earth…"_

_Are you Serenity? Or the Silver Millennium Crystal?_

_"…I am no more Serenity, and yet not only myself. I am simply one constant entity, but…the light of another, The Child of the Moon, has shaped my sameness in the moments that exist both here and afar."_

He considered the words but did not voice his thoughts. _…Is Serena Serenity?_

_"Serena is herself, and yet, she is no less than who she was a time ago, a time that is no more than a second in the eternity of the past and the future. The Child of the Moon, Princess Serenity, lives within her. And yet she, Born and also Reborn, stands as her own self._

_"…Your heart beats for her, The Reborn Child of the Moon._

_"You, whose heart has remained steadfast and silent: can you hear your heart awaken once more? Can you __feel__ it calling her name?"_

He could. These feelings the voice spoke of, this passion to have her safe and to be with her were both new, and yet familiar. It felt like the resurrection of that moment he first looked upon Serenity and felt his whole being change and reshape itself to be with her. From where he presided in time, an image of Serena from what would be the future emerged. And he felt his heart change and reshape itself once more. She, she herself, was so beautiful: her hair was the color of moonlight, her body dressed in white, and her eyes infinitely older than they were now—like how his had become in a century of prolonged life.

And then, from that plane of existence, he felt the sensation of Serena's lips upon his own.

And he felt whole.

_"There has never been a need to hide from those feelings. Just as the Child of the Moon's feelings were for you, The Reborn Child holds those feelings dear to herself for you as well."_

He absorbed the words and felt a new warmth around him and a pull towards whichever direction led to her.

_"Let your feelings grow, for in them you will find the salvation you seek. And with your salvation, comes salvation for the future…"_

The voice receded, and he awoke, no longer cocooned in the safety of the crystal.

There she was, Serena standing before him in a wedding gown that made her look beautiful, with pieces of the crystal at her feet.

A smile broke across his face and his heart leapt. "Serena…I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

They were reunited for the first time or for the last time. "You look so different… There's something different about your eyes." Her eyes filled with tears and she could only nod. He knew there were traces of Serenity in her eyes: layers of sadness and regret and the clarity of the decision she had made in the past for all their sake. And then there he saw Serena's own to fight and her determination to be victorious. There were so things they shared: the love for their families and their people…and the love they both held love for him.

He leaned forward and she stood at her tallest.

Their eyes closed.

And they kissed. A soft and sweet kiss.

And the world grew still.

The kiss he gave her felt so right, so complete.

And then as she pulled away from his touch, he felt the power burn within him, a golden fire that seemed to never end but would not consume him.

_Her_ power.

And he felt the power in the room change.

He opened his eyes to see her floating high above him, and the shards rising in the air. She looked down upon him, and like once before, he was staring into the universe within her eyes. The longer he stared, the more he realized that her light poured from her crescent-moon mark as well. The shards felt like they were singing, and the sound crescendoed as Serena's head tilted back and he as he saw something emerge: a misshapen glass bead. It floated higher into the air, and every shard around them reacted, floating toward the bead and cleaving to the rock.

He stared in awe.

_The crystal. I'm staring at the crystal. It had been within her this whole time. _

She came back down, eyes still glowing with moonlight and the whole Silver Millennium Crystal in her hand, its glow breaking through the gaps between her fingers.

The light within him burned once more and…change in a way that it never had before. It made him fall to his knees, and gasp with air with wide, surprised eyes.

She kneeled and pressed her hand over his chest, one that he covered with both his own. A ghost of a smile crossed Serena's face; he knew she felt his desire to be a part of this moment, to help shape what was happening.

He watched something…solid emerge from his chest. Serena stood and her hand clasped the object. He watched as the light within him became a scepter made of rose and yellow gold. There was the insignia of the royal family, the crescent moon, tilted on its side with four gems embedded across its curve. A red sphere rested in the gap, and a tiny crown, encrusted with rubies, was atop the shape. There was a heart at the base, framed with polished gold wings.

The crystal rose from Serena's hand and floated toward the scepter. The red sphere opened and the crystal changed shape before their eyes, its metamorphosis the appearance of a flower blooming as it entered the sphere and closed.

_"My Child of the Earth and my Reborn Child of the Moon. It is with this vessel, the first to be born from your love, that the Darkness that again threatens our universe will be cast out."_

Serena gasped and the color came back to her eyes.

_"Now stand and protect this: our home, and the future…"_

* * *

The doors of the Mare Serenitias opened and Serena and Endymion walked through the threshold hand in hand. The power in the hallway flowed past them and into the opened sanatorium, no longer needed to protect the hallowed land.

Their eyes gazed at the sight before them. The sky had darkened and grey clouds swirled overhead. Wind howled and bent and shook the trees. They stepped unto the grass, her dress' skirt and his wrinkled and bloodied dress shirt whipping in the breeze.

Serena felt the distorted space around her. Everything living rejected the concentrated power: the trees bowed and jerked, and flowers were pulled out by the root; the grass folded until it was flat.

And there Diamond stood at its epicenter, his third eye was roving and shifting from right to left and back again, as if to see the world around it shrink from its power. It remained unbothered by the wisps of the royal's white bangs or the debris from the royal grounds.

The smile on the now-fallen Moon royal's face was wide—almost demonic, but he didn't speak right away. His eyes closed and he inhaled the air around him. "The crystal has finally emerged. I can feel it near you." He pointed to the scepter she instinctively clutched. "In there." His palm opened. "Hand it over to me."

The teenager stepped forward just a bit, stopping when she felt Endymion's hand squeeze tightly around hers. "No."

"No? Again, with _No?_ You _dare_ to refuse me once more?!"

"I'm not giving you the crystal, and I'm not letting you harm it! The crystal is my responsibility and it's my birthright. I'm never giving it to you."

He looked insulted. "Your responsibility? _Your birthright?!_ Your…that _birthright_ does _not_ exist! It has _never_ been a birthright! It is enslavement! The crystal _is_, _an_, _abomination_! An insult to the natural course of life and death. It is the cause of chaos and disorder. And unhappiness! My purpose, my reason for being and aim in standing before you is to rid the universe of that thing, so that order is restored." He jutted his hand out, done with being nice. _"Give it to me!"_

"No!"

He frowned. "You—! Who do you think you are?! You are _nothing_—nothing but a _shade_, an _imitation_ of the true princess that graced the palace you inhabit. You are just as much an insult as that glass ball you hold so tightly! Your face, your voice, your _hair!_ Every bit of you stands there to remind me of that I can never have."

Their eyes locked and held until Diamond suddenly pulled away. "You even stare at me as she did, that same look. Those same eyes. As if, as if she hated me for doing everything I did to try and save her. You may think you have her memories, but _you know nothing!_ …When she was younger, she stared upon _me_ as though _I_ were her champion! Before her senshi and before _you_, prince." He sneered. "She… As young as I was and herself even younger, she awakened what I knew to be love within me…and then one day, she changed and looked upon me as if I were to be _hated…_

"It was the last look she gave me before she disappeared. Even as she allowed the crystal to whisk her away, she still looked at me that way…"

Again came the look of anger. "…I won't have you look at me that way! I will not have _you_ remind me of that day!" A purple light emitted from his hands.

He hurled the energy at them.

"That's enough!" she yelled, and with a sweep of her arm, the attacks were thwarted and burst upon impact with the ground.

_"Raise your scepter in the air."_

Serena raised it above her head and felt it grow warm in her palms. The swirling vacuum of air still spun around, but her blue eyes only focused on its glow. "Dear Light of the Silver Millennium Crystal," she murmured, "scattered and given to the Children of the Moon Kingdom, I call on you now, in this dark space and dark time, to return to my hand."

Her eyes closed and she could feel them around her, glowing orbs slipping from within the chests of the royals and The Elders of the Moon, the handmaiden and servers, and the guards. Even though she couldn't see them, she knew they were passing through walls and windows as if the Moon Palace was not there. Two balls of light, each no bigger than her palm, suddenly fell through the sky and hovered before her like snowflakes, ready to answer her call.

Seeing them, the first before her, made her smile. _Luna…and Artemis… _Behind her, with his hand on the small of her back and body also aglow, the Prince of Earth smiled as well at the two.

And then another came.

And another. And another. And more, hundreds, until she and Endymion were surrounded.

_"Do you feel the power and strength you yourself possess?"_

The power she felt surged within her and the sphere glowed. "Yes."

_"That strength comes from your heart. It is your heart and the love it possesses that is strong._

_"Remember this, your heart's strength and its conviction, for I will respond to nothing else."_

Her eyes closed and she bowed her head. "I understand."

_"Now say this:"_

"Moon…" the breath in her chest hitched, "Healing…" she felt the power move and stream towards her raised hand. Her heart felt like it was glowing with silver-gold light. "HALA~TION!"

The lights expanded and melded with one another, growing stronger and strong in their reunion until all other color and the sight of Diamond, lunging for her once more, disappeared from view.

She felt it. She felt the darkness being cast away in the presence of brilliance.

* * *

_**A/N: **__I sincerely hope that this was well worth the wait. This version is probably the result of my third rough draft, the first two involving the elders' actual detainment of Serena and_ ultimatium,_ and Diamond confronting her about Endymion prior to the wedding. The idea of the Silver Millennium Crystal's perspective necessarily planned, but I liked it when it first came._

_Kenji-Papa, as Chibiusa calls him, is really one of my favorite minor characters in the manga, and it didn't seem right for him to somehow not to be at the wedding._

_I know that "Moon Healing Halation" is not the attack that goes with the Cutie Moon Rod, but it didn't seem right to have her yell out "Moon Princess Halation" like in the manga._

_There's really only one more chapter to go so R&amp;R._


	14. XIV

_She was having the same vision again:_

_There __they__ were: the orbs. Like pearls on a necklace, they stood in a perfect circle amongst the stars, surrounding the glowing, golden-yellow light in the center__—t__he sun, she realized. As she had for months before._

_A voice called out in the expanse and grew in decibel and then faded—like a wave rushing to shore only to pull itself back just as quickly. It called out again, and she heard the single word—sound? noise? …name?—she had been waiting to hear. _

_She moved through space and walked closer to the orbs…to the voice. _

_It was a girl's voice… _

_The orbs began to spin, slowly at first and then slowly picked up speed, like dancers in a ballet. The glow of sunlight illuminated them, but in…strange ways: for some, the sun created waxing crescents; for others, they waned; but the one furthest away glowed like a golden disk. _

_Her fingers found the crescent on her forehead. It's the phases of the Moon, she realized for maybe the hundredth time. _

_This was when the vision ended, and she found herself back in the Mare Serenitias. But instead of her eyes opening, she stayed in this plane of existence. Each orb stopped spinning, and she couldn't help feeling like they were all waiting for something to happen._

_"…Look harder, Serena."_

_Had she been awake, maybe she would have been shocked. This was the first time the Silver Millennium Crystal had spoken to her in three years. _

_"…look __harder__…"_

_The orbs began to move…rotate…in their circle. She watched as the furthest orb made its way and stood in front of her. It was beautiful: golden and smooth despite its cracks and dents, yellow-gold against white-gold._

_The voice of the girl called out again. _

"…_listen __harder__…hear the name…"_

_…This time when she heard the voice approach, it didn't fade away, but grew into a crescendo. If it had felt like a wave crashing to shore ninety-nine times before, then this time it had reached the beach and flooded over the sand. She was drowning in the sound…_

_And then she heard it._

_It wasn't the __Moon__ she was looking at. The orbs, what they were…their name was—_

Nineteen-year-old Serena Tsukino gasped, her meditation broken. Sweat dripped down her skin from her temples. And her fingernails scratched against the marble floor below her body. "When did I…?" she murmured groggily.

And then she remembered what had happened. Her hands groped the front of her dress where she had placed her brooch that morning. It was a compact, a heart made of rose quartz with golden wings and a crescent moon in its center. The click it made as she opened it was quieter than the sound of her breathing in the sanatorium.

The Silver Millennium Crystal sparkled in the light, refracted colors of light it emitted dancing across her face. "I understand…"

* * *

XIV

* * *

Everyone knew it was an important day.

And because it was such an important day, it was also a day that promised things going awry: the catered food needed to feed everyone would arrive late or taste unsatisfactorily, or an entire dish would be dropped in a haste to feed the evening's attendees; one or all of the decorations would arrive damaged, or something that was not part of the decorations—a statue, for example—would incur some harm; or the chosen dress would get a tear that even the most skilled seamstress or tailor would not be able to repair in time.

Those were the things Endymion knew worried Luna for days on end. However, as of mid-morning, the prince realized that the "girl of the hour" herself may be the only factor that had been unaccounted for by the dark-haired woman. Which is why when he had finally found her the library, in the company of some of the new mothers and their babies, he cut their greeting short to remind her Luna, and possibly even Artemis, were likely waiting for her arrival to her first obligation of the day and growing more annoyed by the minute. And as he followed behind her some moments later, giving and receiving amicable greetings from the royals he encountered along the hallways and imaging the flutter of her white skirt as she had raced past these groups, he finally came upon her scribe's scolding:

"For goodness' sake, Serena," the dark haired woman pouted with pen and clipboard in hand, "you know you have a schedule to keep today, and it is expected that you keep abreast of it!"

"I kno~w! I'm sorry, Lun~a!"

Luna sighed. "…Losing track of time in the library has certainly become a habit with you in the last few days. What were you doing in there?"

"Reading manga?" Artemis offered with a faint smile on his face. Even after three years, he was still amused at the mother-daughter exchange that occurred between the two from time to time. He made no effort to move from against the palace walls as the conversation continued.

Serena shook her head adorably, her floor-length pigtails shaking. "No! _No!_ I was…I was…"

Endymion emerged from his hiding place. "I am afraid that I may be the reason for Serena's tardiness. I suggested some time ago that the library would be a quiet place for her to write and practice her speech, but it seems that it has been a bit too effective." His hand pressed against her lower back. "Please accept her apology, Luna—on my behalf." He bowed toward the older woman.

He watched with quiet amusement as Serena's face lit up at the realization of his little white lie. "Yeah, see? It's not even my fault this time!" She pressed her hands together in supplication and mustered up her puppy-eyed look. Please say you'll forgive me—pretty ple~ase?"

Luna sighed again, but thankfully broke into a smile. "Alright… I supposed I am to be glad that you are taking your speech seriously. …It is good to see you being so…diligent…" Serena nodded her head eagerly. "So be it then—although," her attention turned to the Prince of Earth with a pointed look, "it seems His Royal Highness has picked up your wonton disregard of time."

That gave the two pause, and Endymion's eyes met Serena's pale blue ones. "…It seems I am now receiving the scolding Luna specifically reserves for you," the prince deadpanned. "But, she may be right: I never used to be the reason for your tardiness. However shall my good name be cleared?"

"I'm sorry, Endymion." Serena now flashed him her puppy-dog eyed look, the one she knew he was weak to fight. "I promise on this day to no longer be late ever, ever, ever." Before he could voice his doubts, she neared him and touched his shoulder for support. She balanced on her tiptoes. "And _I'll_ be the one to restore your honor. I promise it with this kiss."

Her eyes closed and her lips puckered, and he felt himself almost helpless by her playfulness and her beautiful face. And yet—

He pressed his finger to her mouth and instead opted to kiss her forehead, right over her crescent-moon mark. "Go with Luna now; promise you will be on time with Artemis and the delegates later; and I will retrieve this kiss from you tonight." He flashed her one of his boyish smiles.

She blushed. "…Okay..."

The casual wave that Endymion bid Serena and Luna adieu with ended as the women rounded the corner.

"…Am I correct in thinking this has been the fourth or fifth time she has been inside the library?" Artemis asked, turning to him for the first time.

"…Yes…" Endymion sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Before I came upon you all, I saw her usual spot, and there were quite a number of books there…" he trailed off. "I think her reason for being there was the dream."

Her on-going confusion and puzzlement and researching into her dream about the orbs worried him—or it made him feel like he _should_ be worried. Lately, almost in conjunction to the decision to hold the Coronation Announcement, his thoughts reminded him of Diamond and the past. He was reminded of Serenity, of how his world was different and he was certain that he would be able to protect her…and what he felt was his complete inability to do so now. This young girl had brought him back to life in ways apart from simple reanimation, and now she was becoming queen, and he was—what?

He was being asked to return to Earth…

Kunzite, or a man who claimed to be Kunzite… A series of letters from his former general, spanning for almost eighty years, were recently found in a raid of Diamond's old quarters. The most recent one had been three years ago, a series of thoughts that spoke of visions and worry over his well-being. The message stated that they—his generals—had experienced sensations of the heart, and a flooding of warmth and light in their chests that coincided with strange phenomena: the extraordinary brilliance of the Moon one afternoon. The prince had read and reread their entreaties for his return and assuming his birthright as King of Earth, and their seriousness and intelligibility weighed on his mind.

And he was being anchored to the Moon Kingdom, happily anchored to Serena. Her joy, their love. In him, in the same space where he felt himself give in to the words of his general, he felt a pull to another future where he would be with the savior of his soul and everything that had become important to him as well. And he would stand as her own protector; as her…husband and father of their children—

"Well. We could worry about the secrets of the universe, or we can celebrate in the moment and wait for her speech tonight. Whatever unfolds afterwards, I am certain that she will look to you for support. After all, make no mistake," Artemis reassuringly clasped a hand on his shoulder, "when she needs you, you will be able to protect her and give her strength—as she endeavors to be strong for you and endeavors to give you strength as you so need it."

A small smile flitted on Endymion's face, relieved that the fear he kept in his heart was assuaged, if only for a moment. "…Thank you."

* * *

The grand ballroom never looked more beautiful and she had never felt like things were more perfect. Her dress, the sheer white frock with a cape and black-spectacled gold feathers made her look like what the tailor called "a vision;" everyone in the palace, from the royals to the servers—and even her family and closest friends—were dancing, enjoying themselves and celebrating under the low lights of the enfilade.

And not just them: on the other side of the camera lenses that filmed them were more people watching in their home throughout the kingdom…and beyond…

_The whole Solar System is watching_, she told herself more than once throughout the night. And with each time she thought it, she gripped the handle of her scepter tighter to keep the butterflies in her stomach from fluttering out of control.

And then came Artemis' speech:

"It is again an honor to be standing on this stage tonight," he started, his face magnified by a hundred times on the screen behind him. "…In thinking about this speech, I have frequently been visited by my very first impressions of Serena Tsukino—specifically, the night she floated unto this very platform. The word that comes to mind is _surprise_—and nothing else, really." He smiled at the chuckles from the crowd. "However, I have realized that that was not entirely true: when I saw her up close some time later, I felt a…stirring within myself: an understanding that now that she existed in these walls, everything was different. Everything was different.

It was only after some time I truly came to know with Serena, surprise is merely a preclude to change with her. With all the things she exudes—joy, laughter, cheerfulness—the surprise I feel comes before the change her very presence seems to cause.

"Although I say that…I am not surprised about whom she has become now. I witnessed this, a young woman who when presented with obstacles to her own self growth, wholeheartedly embraced her sense of duty long before it truly manifested once one rainy afternoon—and maybe I should have encouraged her to go to the meeting she had been expected to attend," laughter, "but I am glad that I did not. Because if she had, we may not now have all the changes she has brought into our lives. She has brought us, the followers of the Moon Kingdom's royal family, back to life; she has helped to usher in life anew, the births of our healthy, happy children loyal to the kingdom and its legacy; and she has casted out the darkness that lurked in the shadows of these very halls.

"I can only imagine what changes lay in store in our future with her ascension," he raised his arm towards her and smiled. "Long live the Moon Kingdom's special daughter! Long live its protector! Long live its queen! Long live Serena Tsukino!

"Long live Serena Tsukino!" The words were echoed through the ballroom and repeated again and again. By the time she reached the stage, Artemis' words had grown into a loud, wild chant punctuated with toasts of champagne and the flash of camera lights.

With surprised, pale-blue eyes, she stared out at all the faces of her friends and loved ones.

And then she locked eyes with Endymion at the foot of the stage, smiling up at her.

"…Thank you, Artemis…and thank you, everyone. I never imagined that when I came here with my dad almost four years ago, I would be standing here—I was just happy I had actually passed my Ancient Moon History exam." She grinned at the light chuckles that spread in the room. "It has been such an amazing time here. And everything I have done has been to protect the people of the Moon—and there is still so much I know I need to do!"

Serena paused to hear the applause. And then, with an audible sigh into her microphone, said, "Which is why I don't feel ready to accept the throne yet."

Her gripped tightened around her scepter as cameras flashed; gasps could be heard; even Luna's surprised voice reached her ears. "Please understand!" Her voice rose above the others, which somehow, quieted them. "Please understand… I have thought about this for a while. I have thought for _so long_ about what being queen would mean for our kingdom—what my purpose as queen would be.

"But, it is only recently I realized that being queen and protecting the kingdom would mean more than just fighting what happened to our kingdom a few years ago. It wouldn't be smart of me to, to, to," she stopped and waited for the words to come to her, "to just _think_ of the darkness as a sole threat to us alone."

Her eyes closed and she remembered the last time she saw Diamond.

_The blinding light of the Silver Millennium Crystal had drowned him in its glow, and he seemed to slowly be coming apart. His hair was signed, and his skin had peeled into flakes and burned. But, in that glow…she saw the air itself parting, and something emerging in the sudden tear—A pair of dark hands that were bigger than her body with long fingernails. She witnessed those hands grab the fallen Moon royal's body. And she had been so scared in that moment that…she had only been able watch as they pulled him into the sudden abyss and…disappeared..._

"The era of our Restoration ends with my ascension to the throne. And when that happens, I want to know that the Moon Kingdom isn't standing alone! I know that is has been with the help of others that I have gotten this far and I want to be able to do the same. But I've realized I can't do this alone.

"And I don't have to. I know that I, like Princess Serenity, have the support of all of you. And I have fighters and warriors waiting for me: senshi." Her saying the word caused another wave of surprise from the royals. "And I want to find them…" Her forehead tingled and the word that she had been hearing in her dreams came to her:

_"Venus"_

"I want to begin the relationship between the Moon Kingdom and Venus again, and I ask for the aide of the Venetian government in my search for my first senshi. I want this to be the beginning of the Moon and Venus recreating its relationship from history.

"I look forward to hearing from you, and encourage my other senshi to join me and find me. …Thank you." She bowed to the assembly and then walked off the stage.

* * *

"As beautiful as you look in that dress, you must also be very cold." Endymion came upon her standing at the entry of the rose garden and staring at the Earth's horizon over the far back wall. He took off his suit jacket and placed it on her shoulders as he spied the spirals of clouds and patches of green and blue on the orb. "You have inadvertently caused a frenzy in the grand ballroom."

She smiled. "Are Luna and Artemis okay?"

He chuckled. "I believe that when once the shock wears off, Luna will be fine." He held her close in his arms. "…Is that what you believe your dream meant?"

"Yeah. Venus has phases almost like the Moon's. When I remembered that, everything about my dream made sense, I guess. I read a couple of Artemis' old notes in Queen Serenity's office, and just thought…"

"Well…Venus was the last and most reluctant of the planets to sever ties with the Moon. I do not know what the sentiment has been like in the last few decades, but you may hear from them in the coming days."

"…Have you ever been to Venus?" She stared at his handsome face. "…I've heard people there are really beautiful…"

"I have heard that as well, but I rather think the Earth may have the most beautiful people. It would be best for you to see Earth's beautiful people and its beauty period before witnessing Venus'…would you like to see it with me?

She pulled away and stared at his face. "You want me to come to Earth?"

"Yes…I have received—or recovered—letters from my generals there. They have urged for my return and reminded me that Earth is my own birthright. It is time to assume as much responsibility as my planet will allow me in my absence—or, if not, bear witness to what it will become.

"…Will you come with me?"

"…Yes..._yes_…"

With wide, pale-blue eyes, she watched him fall to a knee. "…And will you marry me there? On Earth?"

She gasped again.

"You, all sides of you, have become the most important person to me. I never thought it would again be possible to feel this way once more, and when I had finally seemed to accept knowing that I was worthy of feeling true happiness for one brief moment in my life, you appeared. You proved me wrong, and then reawakened my heart, and I have again found completion and purpose. To marry you on the planet of my birth would only guarantee my happiness for as long my heart is allowed to beat.

"Will you marry me?"

She herself kneeled on the cold, hard ground and hugged him. "YES! YES, I will marry you!" And then she kissed him and felt as though the whole, entire universe bore witness for them in this moment. Her forehead tingled; her heart beat merrily.

"I love you."

"I love you."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ I would like to thank everyone who read this fanfic from the beginning. I know that certain decisions I made in early chapter led me to lose some readers—but if you stuck around and found something to enjoy, I truly thank you very much. This really went far beyond what I expected it would become when I wrote the first three chapters, so thanks for putting this and me on your alerts and favorites, and leaving me a review. _


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